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UNIVERSITY    OF    PENNSYLVANIA 


FAMILY  DESERTION  AND  NON-SUPPORT 

A  STUDY  OP  COURT   CASES  IN   PHILADELPHIA 
FROM  1916  TO  1920 


BY 

s.  Howard' PATTERSON 


A  THESIS 

PRESENTED    TO    THE    FACULTY    OF    THE    GRADUATE    SCHOOL    IN 

PARTIAL    FULFILLMENT    OF    THE    REQUIRBMENTS    FOR 

THE    DEGREE    OF    DOCTOR    OF    PHILOSOPHY 

IN    SOCIOLOGY 


reprinted  from 
The  Journal  of  Delinquency 
Sept.-Nov.  1922 

Whittier  State  School 
Whittier,  California 

1922 


UNIVERSITY   OF    PENNSYLVANIA 


FAMILY  DESERTION  AND  NON-SUPPORT 

A   STUDY   OF   COURT   CASES   IN   PHILADELPHIA 
FROM  1916  TO  1920 


BY 

S.  HOWARD\  PATTERSON 


.\PA1 


A  THESIS 

PRESENTED    TO    THE    FACULTY    OF    THE    GRADUATE    SCHOOL    IN 

PARTIAL    FULFILLMENT    OF    THE    REQUIREMENTS    FOR 

THE     DEGREE     OF     DOCTOR     OF     PHILOSOPHY 

IN     SOCIOLOGY 


Reprinted  from 
The  JoLTiNAL  OF  Delinquency 
Sept.-Nov.  1922 

Whittier  State  School 
Whittier,  California. 

1922 


//<?  Son 


FOREWORD 

The  author  wishes  to  express  his  appreciation  of  the  cooperation 
of  the  officers  of  the  various  social  agencies  which  matie  possible 
this  study.  He  is  under  particular  obligations  to  the  following 
gentlemen  connected  with  the  Philadelphia  Court:  President 
Judge  Charles  L.  Brown;  Mr.  Leon  Stern,  Head  of  the  Education- 
al Department;  Mr.  Frank  S.  Drown,  Head  of  the  Statistical 
Department;  Dr.  Thomas  A.  Shallow,  Chief  Probation  Officer;, 
and  Dr.  Louis  N.  Robinson,  formerly  Chief  Probation  Officer . 


^^tU<^<^ 


yC. 


FAMILY  DESERTION  AND  NON-SUPPORT:     A  STUDY  OF  COURT 
CASES  IN  PHILADELPHIA  FROM  1916  to  1920 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS  Page 

I.  Introduction:     Desertion  a  Pathological  Phase  of  Family  Life 249 

1.  Social  effects  of  desertion. 

a.  Dependency. 

b.  Delinquency. 

2.  The  attitude  of  society. 

3.  Desertion  and  divorce  compared. 

4.  The  literature  upon  desertion. 

5.  The  scope  of  this  study. 

II.  The  amount  of  Desertion  and  Non-Support  in  Philadelphia  from   1916 

to  1920  and  the  Fluctuations  in  the  Rate 255 

1.  The  total  number  of  court  cases. 

2.  The  refined  rate. 

3.  A  comparison  with  the  total  population. 

4.  A  comparison  with  the  marriage  rate. 

5.  A  comparison  with  the  divorce  rate. 

6.  Factors  contributing  to  the  annual  fluctuations. 

a.  Economic  conditions. 

b.  The  world  war. 

c.  Prohibition. 

III.  The   Factors  of   Race,   Nationality   and   Religion 269 

1.  The  colored  and  white  rates  compared. 

2.  The  native  and  foreign  born  rates  compared. 

3.  Mixed  marriages. 

4.  Religious  groupings. 

IV.  The  Social  Economic  Environment 275 

1.  Housing    conditions. 

2.  Occupational  groupings  of  husbands. 

3.  Wages  received. 

4.  Additional  income. 

5.  Wives  gainfully  employed. 

V.  Conjugal    Conditions 299 

1.  Ages  of  husbands  and  wives. 

2.  Number  of  years  married. 

3.  Age  at  marriage. 

4.  Early  and  late  marriages  compared. 

5.  Length  of  acquaintanceship  before  marriage. 

6.  The  influence  of  children. 

7.  Forced  marriages. 


.'522!>58 


Page 

VI.  Individual    Causes 304 

1.  Inherent  and  acquired  traits. 

2.  Some  psychological  implications. 

3.  Difficulties  in  the  way  of  a  scientific  analysis. 

4.  Desertion  not  solely  the  fault  of  the  husband. 

5.  A  classification  of  individual  charges. 

6.  Negro  and  white  charges  compared. 

7.  Chief  charges  brought  against  husbands. 

8.  Chief  charges  brought  against  wives. 

VII.  Types   of    Deserters 311 

VIII.  Development   of   the   Legal   Machinery 313 

1.  Status  of  deserted  families  under  the  common  law. 

2.  The  Pennsylvania  Poor  Law  of  1836. 

3.  The  Desertion  and  Non-Support  Act  of  1867. 

4.  Later  legislation. 

5.  The  possibility  of  civil  procedure. 

6.  The  establishment  of  the  Philadelphia  Municipal  Court. 

IX.  The   Machinery   in   Operation .....316 

1.  The  change  of  attitude. 

2.  The  probation  system. 

3.  The  process  in  brief. 

4.  Adjustments  outside  the  court. 

5.  Court  dispositions. 

6.  Reconciliations. 

a.  Extent. 

b.  According  to  nativity. 

c.  Permanency. 

X.  Summary    and    Conclusions 326 

1.  Social  significance. 

2.  Amount  and  fluctuations  in  the  rate. 

3.  Causes  of  desertion  and  non-support. 

4.  Treatment. 

XL     Bibliography    329 


FAMILY   DESERTION   AND   NON-SUPPORT 

A  STUDY  t>F  COURT  CASES  IN  PHILADELPHIA  FROM  1916  TO  1920 

S.  HOWARD  PATTERSON,  Ph.  D. 

Assistant  Professor  of  Economics,  University  of  Pennsylvania 


I.  INTRODUCTION.  DESERTION,  A  PATHOLOGICAL  JPHASE  OP 
FAMILY  LIFE. 

IL  THE  AMOUNT  OF  DESERTION  AND  NON-SUPPORT  IN  PHIL- 
ADELPHIA FROM  1916  TO  1920  AND  THE  FLUCTUATIONS  IN  THE 
RATE. 

III.  THE    FACTORS    OF    RACE,    NATIONALITY    AND    RELIGION. 

IV.  THE  SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  ENVIRONMENT. 

V.  CONJUGAL  CONDITIONS. 

VI.  INDIVIDUAL  CAUSES. 
VIL     TYPES    OF   DESERTERS. 

VIII.  DEVELOPMENT    OF    THE    LEGAL   MACHINERY. 

IX.  THE  MACHINERY  IN  OPERATION. 

X.  SUMMARY  AND  CONCLUSIONS. 
XL     BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


L     INTRODUCTION.     DESERTION,   A   PATHOLOGICAL   PHASE   OP 

FAMILY  LIFE 

The  social  significance  of  an  unstable  or  an  unhealthy  family 
life  is  well  illustrated  in  the  problem  of  desertion.  In  both  de- 
pendency and  delinquency  the  effect  is  greatly  to  increase  the  social 
debtor  classes.  Dr.  Devine  in  his  Causes  of  Misery  found  ten 
per  cent  (10%)  of  the  five  thousand  (5000)  cases  of  dependency 
which  he  studied  to  be  those  of  deserted  women.  The  non-sup- 
port cases  were  equivalent  to  two  per  cent  (2%)  of  the  whole, 
which  would  raise  the  total  to  twelve  per  cent  (12% ) .  /if  we  eliminate 
home  less  men  and  single  women  from  the  total  number  of  cases  the 
role  of  desertion  and  non-support  would  show  itse)  f  in  a  higher  percent- 
age. /"The  increase  in  the  social  debtor  groups  is  particularly  notice- 
able in  the  case  of  children.  The  social  cost  of  desertion  must  be 
viewed  from  the  standpoint  of  both  society  and  the  child.  For  the 
latter  it  means  the  absence  of  a  normal  home  and  the  non-fulfillment 
of  the  larger  social  functions  of  the  family  beyond  the  mere  fact  of 
biological  reproduction^ 

To  the  state  it  means  an  increase  in  burden  of  taxation  to  support 
these  children  in  institutions  or  homes.  It  also  brings  a  serious  prob- 
lem of  administration,  for  the  care  of  dependent  children  is  a  vexed 
social  problem.  The  large  part  played  by  desertion  is  illustrated  in 
the  following  quotation  taken  from  a  report  of  the  vice-chairman   of 

(249) 


250  The  Journal  of  Delinquency 

the  Joint  Executive  Committee  of  the  Children's  Bureau  of  Philadel- 
phia, which  appeared  in  the  Philadelphia  City  Club  Bulletin  for  Feb- 
ruary the  twelfth,  1913:  "We  have  been  able  to  gather  figures  of 
institutional  children  to  the  number  of  eighteen  hundred  and  ninety- 
one  (1,891).  Of  these  five  hundred  and  twenty-two  (522)  were  de- 
sertion cases.  This  would  mean  twenty -seven  per  cent  (27%),  but 
of  course  if  you  take  all  the  institutions  of  Philadelphia  this  would 
not  be  a  true  proportion,  because  in  the  orphanages  there  is  a  very 
small  percentage  of  desertion  cases.  So  [for  the  ten  thousand  chil- 
dren in  institutions  in  this  city,  and  there  are  over  ten  thousand 
(10,000),  I  think  fifteen  per  cent  (15%)  would  be  a  fair  proportion 
to  charge  to  desertion  cases.  If  we  reckon  that  these  children  cost/ 
two  hundred  dollars  ($200)  per  capita  for  each  year,  which  I  think 
is  pretty  conservative,  it  makes  the  bill  which  the  citizens  of  Phila- 
delphia are  paying  for  these  dependent  children,  as  a  result  of  this 
one  cause  of  desertion,  amount  to  three  hundred  thousand  dollars 
($300,000)."  A  comparison  of  this  estimate  with  some  more  recent 
ones  in  other  cities  will  show  that  it  is  rather  conservative.  Again, 
it  must  be  remembered  that  this  figure  represents  but  one  part  of 
the  social  cost  of  desertion.  Not  only  are  there  deserted  children  in 
institutions,  but  also  deserted  wivQS  and  children  outside  institutions 
and  dependent  upon  outdoor  relief. '  It  is  estimated  by  the  present 
secretary  for  the  Philadelphia  Society  for  Organizing  Charity  that 
about  ten  per  cent  (10%)  of  all  their  appeals  come  from  the  families 
of  deserters.  In  1916,  out  of  seven  thousand  two  hundred  and 
twenty  (7,220)  cases  handled  by  this  society  seven  hundred  and 
thirty-nine  (739),  or  ten  per  cent  (10%),  were  desertion  cases.  In 
1917,  there  were  six  hundred  and  ninety-two  (692)  cases  out  of  a 
total  of  five  thousand  one  hundred  and  five  (5105)  cases  or  thirteen 
percent  (13%). 

Desertion  plays  an  important  part  in  the  matter  of  juvenile  de- 
linquency as  well  as  in  the  matter  o  f  dependency.  Sociologists  are  talk- 
ing less  about  the  so-called  criminal  types  and  more  about  the  effects 
of  the  social  enviroment.  Except  for  those  with  a  degenerate  or  psy- 
chopathic heredity  the  majority  of  criminals  are  made  and  not  born. 
An  unhealthy  family  life  is  a  very  favorable  soil.  One  of  the  first 
things  which  strike  even  the  casual  reader  of  the  records  of  the  juvenile 
Court  is  the  high  percentage  of  cases  which  come  from  broken  homes. 
v^The  study^  of  a  number  of  boys  before  the  Philadelphia  Juvenile  Court 
in  1916  showed  I  hat  in  two  hundred  and  forty  four  (244)  cases  out  of 


Family  Desertion  and  Non- Support  261 

a  thousand  (1,000)  the  boys  had  come  from  homes  deserted  by  one 
or  both  parents.  This  represents  a  percentage  of  twenty-two  (22. 4  % ) . 
The  study^  of  a  number  of  cases  in  the  Misdemeanants  Court  of 
Philadelphia  in  the  same  year  revealed  the  fact  that  out  of  eight 
hundred  and  sixty-eight  (868)  cases,  eight  (8)  women  were  divorced 
and  seventy-two  (72)  or  nine  per  cent  (9%)  were  separated  from 
their  husbands.  To  what  extent  desertion  was  result  rather  than 
a  cause  of  these  immoral  lives  we  cannot  tell.  Another  study^  of 
the  conjugal  condition  of  six  hundred  and  twelve  (612)  cases  before 
the  same  court  in  1919  revealed  a  greater  proportion  of  broken  homes. 
One  hundred  and  nine  (109)  women  had  been  married  but  were  not 
living  with  their  husbands,  which  represents  eighteen  per  cent  (18  % ) . 
Fifteen  (15)  were  divorced  and  seventy-two  (72)  represented  com- 
mon law  marriages.  In  another  study^  made  in  1916  of  the  girls 
and  women  before  the  Philadelphia  Misdemeanants  Court  in  one 
hundred  and  nineteen  (119)  cases  out  of  eight  hundred  and  sixty 
eight  (868)  or  thirteen  per  cent  (1S%)  and  in  one  hundred  and 
eight  (108)  cases  out  of  six  hundred  and  ninety-five  (695)  the  reason 
given  by  the  girls  for  their  misconductv was  family  trouble.  Al- 
though this  is  a  blanket  term  and  although  all  the  girls  may  not  have 
told  the  truth,  it  does  indicate  the  importance  of  a  stable  and 
healthy  family  life. 

One  serious  aspect  of  the  problem  of  desertion  and  non-support  is 
the  attitude  of  society.  The  care  of  widows  and  orphans  has  been 
extolled  for  ages  as  the  duty  of  all  good  people.  The  cause  of 
deserted  wives  like  that  of  illegitimate  children  has  found  fewer 
champions.  Desertion  could  not  formerly  have  been  so  serious  a 
problem  when  there  was  little  mobility  of  population.  The 
possibilities  have  increased  with  the  development  of  better  means  of 
transportation  and  the  growth  of  huge  cities  in  which  one  family 
hardly  knows  its  own  neighbors.  The  divorced  woman  may  regain 
her  place  in  society  today  and  perhaps  be  granted  alimony  by  the 
court  for  her  support.  The  lot  of  the  deserted  wife  is  more  precari- 
ous and  pathetic,  although  her  domestic  qualities  and  sometimes  her 
moral  virtures  may  be  questioned.  Widows  may  recieve  some  aid 
from  state  pensions  with  which  they  can  support  their  children 
and  keep  the  family  together.  It  is  often  desirable  to  keep  the 
mother  and  children  together  in  desertion  cases.  The  same  is  often 
true    of    illegitimate    children,    which    are    frequently    placed    in 


1.     See  Annual  Reports  of  Philadelphia  Municipal  Court  for  1916  and  1919. 


252  The  Journal  of  Delinquency 

foundling  institutions  where  the  rate  of  infant  mortality  is  high. 
The  state  attempts  to  make  the  father  of  the  iliigetimate  child 
contribute  to  its  support,  although  in  Philadelphia  the  court  is 
appealed  to  by  about  only  one  out  of  every  eight  mothers  of  illegiti- 
mate children.  The  state  fears  the  extension  of  its  widow  pension 
fund  to  deserted  wives  as  well  as  to  the  mothers  of  illegitimate 
children.  It  does  not  care  to  subsidize  the  process.  In  Pennsylvania, 
however,  the  appropriations  for  the  widows'  pension  fund  is  so  small 
that  only  a  comparatively  small  group  can  be  reached.  As  but  few 
widows  can  avail  themselves  of  this  state  aid,  there  has  never 
arisen  the  question  of  extending  it  to  deserted  wives.  The 
possibility  of  securing  support  by  remarriage  is  not  open  to  them  as 
it  is  to  widows  and  widowers.  The  theory  upon  which  society  is 
going  is  to  compel  the  deserting  husband  either  to  return  or  to 
contribute  to  the  support  of  his  family.  To  what  extent  we  are  suc- 
ceeding will  be  discussed  later.  Desertion  and  non-support  however, 
have  been  made  criminal  offences  in  practically  all  the  states. 

Although  the  causes  of  divorce  and  desertion  may  differ,  there  are 
many  similarities.  If  any  generalization  is  permitted  it  may  be  said 
that  they  are  similar  phenomena  in  different  social  strata.  Broken 
family  life  in  the  so-called  upper  social  classes  frequently  results  in 
divorce.  In  the  so-called  lower  economic  and  social  classes  it  takes  the 
more  simple  form  of  desertion.  Indeed,  desertion  has  been  called 
"the  poor  man's  divorce."  Broken  family  life  may  be  easily  read  in 
the  rising  divorce  rate.  Divorces  are  a  matter  of  legal  record. 
Thus,  writers^  have  been  able  to  speak  of  the  three  fold  velocity  of 
the  divorce  rate.  Desertion,  however,  is  not  always  a  matter  of  re- 
cord and  its  rate  is  not  so  easily  determined.  Nevertheless,  we  be- 
lieve that  the  same  set  of  forces  which  reflect  themselves  in  divorce 
appear  also  in  the  matter  of  desertion.  Both  divorce  and  desertion 
are  indications  of  an  unstable  family  life  and  of  the  process  of  ad- 
justment. Both  phenomena  appear  to  an  unusual  extent  in  the  cities. 
It  is  here  that  the  social  and  economic  ties  which  bind  the  family  to- 
gether become  loosened.  Because  of  the  cumbersome  legal  process 
necessary,  divorce  takes  considerable  time  and  money.  The  divorce 
rate  of  a  given  year  represents  the  rate  of  family  rupture  of  some 
time  past.  This  is  not  so  true  in  the  matter  of  desertion.  Moreover, 
the  legal  grounds  for  divorce  differ  widely  in  the  various  states  and 
are  frequently  so  technical  that  the  real  causes  of  the  shattered  f am- 


2.     See  J.  P.  Lichtenberger :     Divorce,  a  Study  in  Social  Causation. 


Family  Desertion  and  Non- Support  253 

ily  life  are  concealed.  This  characteristic  also  is  not  so  true  of  the 
records  and  and  procedure  in  the  matter  of  desertion  and  non-sup- 
port Here  the  legal  machinery  is  more  simple  and  direct  although 
not  always  effective.  Desertion  as  one  of  the  eleven  causes  of  di- 
vorce in  Pennsylvania  is  largely  a  legal  ficton.  Neither  it  nor  the 
larger  problem  of  divorce  itself  virill  be  directly  considered  in  this 
study. 

Much  literature  has  appeared  upon  the  institutions  of  marriage  and 
the  family.  Only  recently  have  there  been  attempted  many  studies  of 
their  pathological  phases  such  as  divorce  and  desertion.  This  may 
be  attributed  to  the  fact  that  although  divorce  is  older  than  the  Christ- 
ian era,  its  rapid  increase  is  a  modern  phenomenon.  The  problem  of 
desertion  is  almost  as  old  as  civilization  and  we  find  it  mentioned  in 
the  famous  legal  code  of  Hammurabi,  king  of  ancient  Babylon.  On 
the  other  hand  it  does  not  become  the  pressing  social  problem  of  to-day 
until  the  great  urban  development  which  followed  the  Industrial 
Revolution.  The  literature  upon  desertion  is  as  scarce  as  it  is  recent. 
The  pioneer  work  was  that  of  Miss  Zilpha  D.  Smith,  the  general 
secretary  for  the  organized  charities  of  Boston.  This  appeared  in 
1901  and  was  entitled  Deserted  Wives  and  Deserting  Husbands:  a 
study  of  two  hundred  and  thirty  four  families  based  on  the  experience 
of  the  district  committees  and  agents  of  the  Associated  Charities  of 
Boston.  The  following  year  in  the  annual  report  of  the  Philadelphia 
Society  for  Organizing  Charity  there  were  a  dozen  pages  devoted  to 
the  report  of  a  committee  appointed  to  study  the  local  problem  of 
desertion.  In  1905  there  appeared  a  study  of  Five  Hundred  and 
Seventyfour  Deserters  and  their  Families:  a  descriptive  study  of 
their  characteristics  and  circumstances.  .  This  analysis  of  Miss  Lilian 
Brandt  is  unique  among  most  studies  of  desertion  in  that  it  is  not 
local.  Organizations  from  fifteen  different  states  are  represented. 
It  was  accompaniedby  a  survey  of  desertion  and  non-support  laws  up 
to  date.  In  1916,  there  appeared  a  study  of  desertion  for  Chicajfo  by 
E.  E.  Eubank.  This  excellent  work,  which  was  done  by  the  Depart- 
ment of  Public  Welfare  of  the  City  of  Chicago,  represents  mainly 
the  stock  yard  section.  In  1919  there  was  published  by  the  Russell 
Sage  Foundation  one  of  the  best  books  in  existence  upon  desertion. 
This  was  written  by  Joanna  C.  Colcord,  superintendent  of  the  Char- 
ity Organization  Society  of  New  York  and  entitled.  Broken  Homes: 
A  Study  of  Family  Desertion  and  its  Social  Treatment  In  addition 
to  these  works  there  are  reports  upon  the  subject  of  family  desertion 


254  The  Journal  of  Delinquency 

to  be  found  in  the  proceedings  of  the  National  Conference  of  Charities 
and  Corrections.  Private  agencies  such  as  the  National  Conference 
of  Jewish  Charities  and  the  National  Conferences  of  Catholic  Charities 
have  had  the  matter  under  discussion.  The  same  is  true  of  various 
state  conferences  upon  charities  and  corrections.  In  1911  there  was 
established  the  National  Desertion  Bureau  with  headquarters  in  New 
York  City.  This  organization  has  published  several  reports  upon  the 
subject. 

There  has  been  no  recent  general  study  of  the  subject  of  desertion 
in  Philadelphia.  Hence  this  general  survey  of  the  local  situation 
rather  than  the  analysis  of  some  one  of  the  many  interesting  questions 
that  have  thrust  themselves  forward  at  many  points.  At  the  outset 
it  is  desirable  to  make  clear  in  what  sense  we  are  using  the  terms 
desertion  and  non-support.  There  are  two  possible  approaches  to  the 
problem  of  desertion  in  Philadelphia,  one  from  the  cases  which  come 
before  the  organized  charities  of  the  city  and  the  other  from  the  cases 
which  come  before  the  municipal  court.  Because  practically  all  the 
desertion  studies  have  been  made  by  and  from  the  source  material  of 
organized  charity,  another  approach  was  sought,  that  of  the  court 
cases.  It  is  obvious  that  these  two  barometers  for  the  interpretation 
of  desertion  and  non-support  are  not  separate,  but  that  they  frequent- 
ly overlap.  Many  of  the  desertion  and  non-support  cases  of  organiz- 
ed charity  are  brought  into  court,  but  many  are  not.  There  may  be 
little  possibility  of  compelling  the  deserting  or  non-supporting  hus- 
band to  resume  the  obligations  of  married  life.  The  pauper,  diseas- 
ed or  vagrant  husband  may  be  regarded  as  a  good  riddance.  There 
is  little  incentive  to  bring  a  man  into  court  unless  there  is  some  op- 
portunity of  getting  financial  support.  Thus,  many  relief  cases, 
classified  as  desertion  or  non-support  never  find  their  way  into  court. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  court  cases  are  not  merely  confined  to  "the 
submerged  tenth. '^  It  must  be  pointed  out  in  the  beginning  that 
many  court  cases  classified  as  desertion  or  non-support  would  not  be 
so  classified  by  the  workers  of  organized  charity  using  the  words  in 
more  specialized  and  restricted  senses.  Indeed,  the  legal  charge  of 
desertion  or  non-support  may  sometimes  be  used  merely  as  an  ex- 
cuse to  get  the  domestic  relations  case  into  court.  Other  causes  may 
be  responsible  for  the  domestic  maladjustments  which  thus  find 
their  way  into  the  Domestic  Relations  Division  of  the  Municipal  Court. 
Technically,  the  case  is  one  of  desertion  when  either  spouse  has  left 
the  other.     It  is  a  non-support  case  when  the  husband  is  living  at 


Family  Desertion  and  Non-Support  255 

home,  but  is  not  supporting  his  wife.  This  study  of  desertion  and  non- 
support  refers  to  those  cases  which  are  legally  recorded  as  such  when 
the  alleged  deserting  or  non-supporting  husbands  are  brought  into 
court.  We  have  no  method  of  estimating  how  many  casej  there 
are  which  do  not  come  into  court.  There  are  many  wives  who  pre- 
fer to  endure  their  domestic  troubles  rather  than  to  suffer  the  dis- 
grace or  the  trouble  of  bringing  their  husbands  into  court.  To  esti- 
mate the  amount  of  * 'silent  desertion' '  which  is  never  recorded 
would  be  merely  conjecture.  This  study  has  also  been  largely  confin- 
ed to  the  five  year  period  from  1916  to  1920  inclusive.  Three  import- 
ant factors  cut  across  it  and  make  it  both  interesting  and  difficult 
for  the  student  to  draw  conclusions.  These  are  the  war,  national 
prohibition  and  the  economic  situation.  Under  this  last  topic  may 
be  included  the  rise  and  fall  of  real  wages  and  the  changing  condi- 
tions of  employment. 

II.     THE  AMOUNT  OF  DESERTION  AND  NON-SUPPORT 
The  total  number  of  cases  in  the  Domestic  Relations  Division  of 
the  Municipal  Court  of  Philadelphia  for  the  five  years  from  1916  to 
1920  is  as  follows:, 

TABLE  I.     TOTAL  NUMBER  OF  COURT  CASES 

1916 7337 

1917 8201 

1918 6949 

1919 :..8204 

1920 9615 

These  gross  figures  are  very  misleading  and  need  considerable  re- 
finement before  we  attempt  to  trace  the  course  of  desertion  during 
this  period.  The  large  number  of  cases  in  1919  and  in  1920  is  to  be 
explained  by  the  fact  that  in  1919  there  were  transferred  a  large  num- 
ber of  cases  from  the  Court  of  Quarter  Sessions  which  had  handled 
such  matters  before  the  establishment  of  the  Municipal  Court. 

Again,  it  is  necessary  to  limit  ourselves  to  those  cases  which  are 
properly  desertion  and  non-support  in  our  sense  of  the  words.  Such 
cases  constitute  the  bulk  of  those  handled  by  the  Court  of  Domestic 
Relations  and  average  about  nine  tenths  of  the  total  number  of 
cases.  Thus,  we  exclude  the  cases  of  children  who  are  being  forced 
by  the  courts  to  support  aged  parents  and  limit  ourselves  to  the 
deserting  or  ron-supporting  spouses  and  parents. 

A  much  greater  cutting  of  the  gross  figures  occurs  when  we  ex- 
clude the  recurrent  cases.  Many  cases  are  merely  reopened  and 
hence  may  appear  several  times.     Unless  we  eliminate  such  old  cases 


256 


The  Journal  of  Delinquency 


9616 

6201 

6204 

IZZI 

6949 

^ 

4167 

4104 

4066 

2656 

266£ 

1916     inf     1918     1919     1920 


Pig.  1.     Number  of  new  desertion  and  non-support  cases  compared  with 
total  number  of  cases  in  Philadelphia  Court  of  Domestic  Relations. 


Family  Desertion  and  Non-Support 


257 


we  have  duplication  and  a  much  greater  amount  of  desertion  than  is 
correct.  The  percentage  of  recurrent  cases  averages  a  little  less 
than  half  of  the  total  number.    The  yearly  rate  is  as  follows: 

TABLE   II.     RATE    OP   RECURRENCY        -_ 

1916 46  per  cent 

1917 46  per  cent 

1918 42  per  cent 

1919 18  per  cent  (Refined  Rate:     35  per  cent) 

1920 52  per  cent 

The  rate  is  fairly  constant  except  for  the  last  two  years  when  the 
deviation  can  be  explained  in  terms  of  the  transferred  cases.  Cases 
transferred  from  the  Court  of  Quarter  Sessions  in  1919  were 
received  and  technically  listed  as  new  cases  although  in  reality  they 
were  very  old  cases.  Hence,  the  rate  of  eighteen  per  cent  (18%)  in 
1919  is  misleading.  Upon  excluding  the  transferred  cases  the  re- 
current rate  rises  to  thirty-five  per  cent  (35% ) .  The  slightly  higher 
rate  for  recurrent  cases  in  1920  is  also  to  be  explained  by  the  large 
number  of  transferred  cases  in  the  preceding  year. 


Somber  of 
marriage 
lloeuses 
issoad. 


number  of 

returns 

made* 


Hew  ooart 
oases  of 
desertion 
and  non- 
iBupport* 


21,626 

20,708 

19,896 

18,655 

18,535 

16.334 

14.966 

14,108 

18.619 

13,078 

Z6&5 

4167 

9652 

4104 

4036 

1916      1917      1918      1919      1920 

Fig*  2.     Philadelphia  marriage  and  desertion  rates. 


258  The  Journal  of  Delinquency 


^ 


Let  us  limit  ourselves  to  the  number  of  desertion  and  non-sup- 
port cases  which  are  properly  such  and  assume  that  the  rate  is  to 
be  read  in  the  number  of  new  cases  only.  The  refined  figures  for 
the  period  under  discussion  are  now  as  follows: 


TABLE   III.     NEW   COURT   CASES 

1916 3655 

1917 4157 

1918 3652 

1919 4104 

1920 4035 

Yearly  average 3921 


I 


The  absolute  number  of  new  cases  of  desertion  is  not  so  significant 
as  the  ratio  to  the  population  or  to  the  marriage  rate.  Over  any 
long  period  of  time  it  is  perhaps  more  essential  to  obtain  the  ratio  to 
the  population  than  during  short  periods  in  which  population  changes 
cannot  be  so  great.  We  have  the  recent  census  figures  for  the 
city  of  Philadelphia  in  1920  and  the  older  figures  for  1910.  For 
each  of  the  five  years  studied  it  is  impossible  to  get  the  exact 
population  of  Philadelphia.  In  order  to  approximate  the  population 
for  the  intervening  years  between  the  two  censuses,  we  shall 
have  to  distribute  the  gain  in  population  between  1910  and  1920 
evenly  throughout  the  intervening  ten  years.  Such  is  the  method 
used  by  the  United  States  Census  Bureau  and  the  Philadelphia 
Bureau  of  Vital  Statistics.  For  the  period  under  consideration 
such  a  method  is  somewhat  unfair.  The  war  industries,  particu- 
larly the  ship  building  trades,  attracted  to  Philadelphia  a  consider- 
able fioating  population.  Although  married  men  brought  their  fam- 
ilies it  is  fair  to  assume  that  in  this  rather  mobile  population  the  pro- 
portion of  adults  was  somewhat  higher  than  in  the  general  pop- 
ulation. If  the  actual  population  for  1918  was  larger  than  the 
approximated  figures,  the  ratio  will  be  affected  accordingly.  Hence, 
if  the  rate  of  desertion  to  the  population  shows  a  decrease  in  that 
year  it  is  all  the  more  remarkable.  The  comparison  by  years  is  as 
follows: 

TABLE  IV.     DESERTION  RATE  COMPARED  WITH  TOTAL 
POPULATION 

Total  Population  New  Desertion  Cases 

1916  1,709,518  3655 

1917  1,735,514  4157 

1918  1,761,371  3652 

1919  1,787,225  4104 

1920  1,823,779  4035 


Family  Desertion  and  Non-Support 


259 


Inasmuch  as  desertion  is  a  phenomenon  of  married  life  the  total 
population  is  not  the  fairest  base  to  use  in  obtaining  a  proper 
ratio.  Let  us  eliminate  children  under  sixteen  years  of  age  and 
base  the  number  of  desertions  not  upon  the  total  population,  but 
rather  upon  the  marriageable  population.  Here  we  shalHise  the 
following  figures  prepared  for  the  five  years  by  the  Philadelphia 
Bureau  of  Vital  Statistics  by  a  process  similar  to  that  described  in 
the  preceding  paragraph. 


41.W 


4S.19 


S9.86 


4£.17 


44.67 


Htu^r  of  9«opXe  aarxled  •«oh  year  p«r  otte 
tiw—ad  of  total  popslatloa  of  aarrlagcable  Oi^* 


6.09 


9. 07 


7.85 


8.69 


8.21 


Iuab«r  of  hoabando  and  wires  In  n«w  ooart  oaaea 
or  desertion  and  noa-sapport  per  one  thoossnd 
of  total  popalAtlon  of  aarrlageable  age. 


1916 


1917 


1918 


1919 


19£0 


Fig.  3.     Desertion  and  marriage  rate  in  Philadelphia. 


TABLE  V. 

DESERTION 

RATE   COMPARED 
POPULATION 

WITH 

MARRIAGI 

Marriageable 

Pop. 

New  Desertions 

1916 
1917 
1918 
1919 
1920 

902,626 
916,276 
929,933 
943,583 
970,424 

3655 
4157 
3652 
4104 
4035 

The  result  ii  that  the  number  of  deserted  wives  and  non-sup- 
porting husbands  per  one  thousand  of  the  marriageable  population 
is  as  noted  in  Table  VI. 


260 


The  Journal  of  Delinquency 


It  will  be  seen  that  there  was  an  increase  in  1917  over  1916  of 
one  whole  person.  In  1918  there  was  a  decrease  of  more  than 
one  whole  person,  which  is  conservative  for  the  reason  previously 
given.  In  1919  there  is  an  increase  of  almost  one  whole  person, 
followed  in  1920  by  a  drop  of  almost  half  a  person. 

TABLE   VI.     DESERTION   RATE    PER   THOUSAND    MARRIAGEABLE 

POPULATION 

1916 8.09 

1917 9.07 

1918 7.85 

1919 8.69 

1920 8.31 

For  the  period  studied  the  average  annual  number  of  new  deserting 
husbands  and  deserted  wives  to  one  thousand  of  the  marriageable 
population  was  between  eight  and  nine  (8.4). 


1596 

loaber  of  petition*  fll^d. 


1T9B 


102T 


1168 


1144 


£906 


1811 


Hambar  of  dlToroas  granted 


801£ 


1906 


1916      1917      1918      1919      1920 

Fig.  4.    Divorce  rate  in  Philadelphia. 


Tamily  Desertion  and  Non-Support  261 

The  last  Pennsylvania  census  (1920)  showed  that  in  Pennsylvania 
iifty-eight  per  cent  (58%)  of  the  population  of  marriageable  age  were 
actually  married.  If  we  eliminate  from  the  adult  population  single 
persons,  widows,  widowers  and  divorcees  the  rate  will  be  correspond- 
ingly larger.  The  average  yearly  number  of  new  deserting  husbands 
and  deserted  wives  becomes  over  fourteen  (14.5)  per  thousand  of  the 
married  population.  It  must  be  remembered  that  this  represents 
only  the  new  cases  of  desertion,  and  also  only  those  which  have 
come  into  the  court.  On  the  other  hand,  not  all  these  domestic 
relation  cases  classified  as  desertion  and  non-support  would  be  so 
called  by  relief  agencies.  Another  way  of  approaching  the  problem 
is  to  base  the  rate  not  upon  the  population,  but  upon  the  number 
of  families.  The  census  for  1920  recorded  402,946  families  Hving 
in  Philadelphia.  If  we  use  this  as  our  base  we  find  that  the  aver- 
age annual  number  of  new  cases  for  the  period  studied  was  almost 
ten  (9.73)  for  every  thousand  families  in  the  city. 

A  comparison  of  the  desertion  rate  with  the  marriage  rate  is 
even  more  alarming.  In  comparing  desertion  with  population  we 
were  forced  to  choose  between  total  population  and  marriageable 
or  married  population  as  a  proper  base.  In  comparing  the  deser- 
tion rate  with  the  marriage  rate  we  are  forced  to  make  a  some- 
what similar  choice  regarding  our  base.  Shall  we  infer  the  mar- 
riage rate  from  the  total  number  of  licenses  issued  or  merely  from 
the  number  of  cases  in  which  returns  were  made?  The  law  speci- 
fically states  that  clergymen  ofldciating  at  marriages  shall  fill  out 
the  form  provided  and  return  to  the  Bureau  of  Vital  Statistics. 
In  spite  of  the  best  efforts  of  the  director,  a  large  proportion — 
perhaps  one-fourth  of  the  total— never  make  returns.  The  number 
of  marriages  performed  is  somewhere  between  the  number  of 
licenses  issued  and  the  number  of  returns  made.  It  is  certainly 
nearer  the  former  than  the  latter.  In  order  to  make  our  ratio  as 
conservative  as  possible  we  shall  use  as  our  base  the  total  number 
of  marriage  licenses  issued. 

TABLE  VII.     MARRIAGE  RATE  IN  PHILADELPHIA 

Total  number  of    Returns  made    Rate  per  thousand 


marriage  licenses 

of  population  of 

issued 

marriageable  age 

1916 

18,655 

13,078 

41.33 

1917 

2p,703 
18,535 

14,108 

45.19 

1918 

13,613 

39.86 

1919 

19,895 

14,966 

42.17 

1920 

21,625 

15,334 

44,57 

If  we  compare  the  desertion  rate  with  the  marriage  rate,  the  pro- 


262 


The  Journal  of  Delinquency 


portion  is  as  one  to  five.  The  ratio  by  years  of  the  number  of  new 
desertion  cases  in  court  to  the  number  of  licenses  issued  gives  us 
the  following  percentages: 

TABLE  Vm.     MARRIAGE  AND  DESERTION  RATES  COMPARED 


Marriage 

New  Deser- 

Per Cen 

Licenses 

tion  Cases 

1916 

18,355 

3,655 

19.6 

1917 

20,703 

4,157 

20.08 

1918 

18,535 

3,652 

19.7 

1919 

19,895 

4,107 

20.6 

1920 

21,625 

4,035 

18.6 

S655 


1027 


4157 


36&2 


4104 


1168 


1144 


1911 


Hufflbar  of.dlToroe*  granted. 


4036 


Voab«x  of  new  ooart  oases  of 
desertion  and  non-support. 


1906 


1916 


1917 


1918 


1919 


1920 


Fig.  5.     Divorce  and  desertion  rates  in  Philadelphia. 

Prom  the  above  table  it  would  seem  that  about  one-fifth  of  the 
marriages  in  Philadelphia  land  in  the  Court  of  Domestic  Relations. 
This  fact  is  more  alarming  because  we  are  including  only  those  cases 
of  desertion  and  non-support  which  go  through  the  local  courts.  It 
may  be  objected  that  all  those  who  are  married  in  Philadelphia  do 
not  reside  in  that  city,  and  on  the  other  hand  that  all  the  desertion 
cases  in  the  Philadelphia  Domestic  Relation  Court  do  not  represent 
marriages  performed  in  that  city.  Case  records  show,  however,  that 
the  greater  proportion  of  desertion  caies  represent  Philadelphia  made 
marriages.  Moreover,  there  is  little  reason  for  assuming  that  the 
greater  proportion  of  couples  married  in  Philadelphia,  who  move 


Family  Desertion  and  Non-Support  263 

elsewhere,  enjoy  a  greater  amount  of  domestic  tranquility  than  in 
Philadelphia.  Although  it  is  frankly  admitted  that  the  personnel  of 
Philadelphia's  population  does  not  remain  the  same,  nevertheless  it 
is  significient  enough  that  the  proportion  of  desertions  which  occur 
there  to  the  number  of  marriages  performed  there  is  as  one  to  five. 
To  trace  the  rise  and  fall  by  years  of  the  ratio  between  the  number 
of  desertions  and  the  number  of  marriage  licenses  issued  would  be 
insignificant.  It  is  obvious  that  desertions  of  a  given  year  do  not 
represent  the  marriages  performed  in  that  year.  Although  the 
general  ratio  is  important,  the  yearly  rise  and  fall  of  the  desertion 
rate  must  be  based  upon  population  in  order  to  get  the  significant 
changes. 

A  comparison  of  the  divorce  rate  in  Philadelphia  for  the  five  year 
period  with  the  desertion  rate  is  also  interesting.  The  following  table 
shows  the  number  of  suits  filed  and  the  number  of  divorces  granted 
in  each  year: 

TABLE  IX.     DIVORCES  IN  PHILADELPHIA 

Suits  filed  Divorces  granted 

1916  1,596  1,027 

1917  1,720  1,163 

1918  1,798  1,144 

1919  2,906  1,311 

1920  3,012  1,906 

1921  2,481  1,947 

The  number  of  suits  filed  showed  a  sHght,  steady  increase  in  1917 
and  in  1918  over  that  of  1916.  In  1919  and  in  1920  there  was  a  great 
jump  in  which  the  rate  almost  doubled  itself.  There  was  a  fall  in 
1921  although  not  a  return  to  former  levels.  In  the  number  of 
divorces  granted  there  is  a  somewhat  similar  slow  increase  in  the 
earlier  years,  followed  by  a  later  and  more  rapid  increase.  The  jump 
in  the  rate  takes  place,  however,  a  year  later  in  1920  and  in  21. 
For  the  period  studied  the  divorce  rate,  as  read  by  either  barometer, 
shows  an  increase.  This  is  at  first  slow,  but  rises  sharply  a  year 
after  the  close  of  war.  On  the  other  hand,  we  cannot  say  that  the  de- 
sertion rate  as  read  by  the  court  cases  shows  any  great  net  increase 
for  this  period.  Again,  the  annual  fluctuations  in  the  two  rates  are 
different.  The  annual  rate  of  new  desertion  cases,  as  we  have 
observed  it,  shows  an  alternate  annual  rise  and  fall.  This  will  be 
discussed  later. 

The  average  annual  number  of  suits  filed  in  the  Philadelphia  County 
Courts  for  this  period  was  two  thousand  two  hundred  and  six  (2,206) 


264  The  Journal  of  Delinquency 

and  the  average  annual  number  of  divorces  granted  was  one  thou-* 
sand  three  hundred  and  twenty-one  (1,321).  On  the  other  hand, 
the  average  annual  number  of  new  cases  of  desertion  and  non- 
support  coming  into  the  Philadelphia  Court  of  Domestic  Relations 
was  three  thousand  nine  hundred  and  twenty-one  (3,921).  This  amount 
is  almost  twice  as  great  as  average  annual  number  of  divorce  suits  the 
filed  and  almost  three  times  as  great  as  the  average  annual  number 
of  divorces  granted. 

A  five  year  period  is  too  short  a  time  to  permit  any  generalization 
as  to  whether  the  desertion  and  non-support  cases  coming  into  the 
Court  of  Domestic  Relations  in  Philadelphia  are  increasing  or  de- 
creasing. On  the  whole  the  refined  rate  seems  rather  constant,  as 
compared  for  illustration  with  the  increasing  divorce  rate.  Although 
there  is  no  great  net  increase  in  the  number  of  new  court  desertion 
cases  during  the  period  studied,  there  are  some  interesting  yearly 
fluctuations.  Both  the  gross  and  refined  rates  in  1917  show  a  rise 
over  those  of  1916.  In  1918  there  is  a  decline  in  both  rates. 
Because  of  the  transfer  of  cases  in  1919  the  gross  rale  is  meaning- 
less. The  refined  rate  in  1919  shows  an  increase  over  that  of  1918^ 
which  is  followed  by  an  almost  negligible  drop  in  the  following  year. 

Many  factors  may  be  cited  in  attempting  to  explain  these  fluctua- 
tions, although  no  attempt  will  be  made  to  measure  their  relative  im- 
portance. In  the  first  place  let  us  speak  of  the  economic  enviroment. 
Attempts  have  been  made  to  correlate  cycles  of  business  prosperity 
and  depression  with  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  marriage  rate.  Attempt- 
ing to  do  the  same  for  the  Domestic  Relations  Court  cases  resembles 
somewhat  the  converse  of  the  same  proposition.  It  is  interesting  to 
note  that  the  relationship  between  the  marriage  rate  and  the  number 
of  court  cases  in  the  Domestic  Relations  Division  is  not  an  inverse 
relation,  but  a  direct  relationship  except  for  the  last  year,  where  op- 
posite tendencies  are  displayed.  There  does  seem  to  be  an  inverse 
relationship  between  economic  prosperity  and  the  rate  of  desertion 
and  non-support  as  read  by  the  new  cases  in  the  Court  of  Domestic 
Relations. 

There  has  been  a  tremendous  amount  of  discussion  as  to  the  course 
of  real  wages  during  the  war  and  the  period  immediately  following. 
The  hectic  race  between  prices  and  wages  went  upward  and  then 
downward  within  a  very  short  period.  There  has  been  much  partisan 
and  very  little  scientific  discussion  as  to  the  course  of  real  wages  in 


Family  Desertion  and  Non-Support  265 

this  period.  Professor  David  Friday  in  Profits,  Wages  and  Prices 
arrives  at  the  conclusion  that  real  wages  have  not  suffered. 
In  this  conclusion  he  stands  almost  alone  and  numerous  criticisms 
have  been  directed  at  the  method  by  which  his  estimates  were 
obtained.  Two  recent  articles  point  in  the  other  direction  and  what 
is  more  significent  for  our  purposes  attempt  to  show  the  fluctuations 
for  the  particular  years.  Mr.  Abraham  Epstein,  Director  of  the  Old 
Age  Pension  Commission  of  Pennsylvania,  had  an  article  in  the  May, 
1921  issue  of  the  Annals  of  the  American  Academy  of  Political  and 
Social  Science  entitled  Have  American  Wages  Permitted  an  Ameri- 
can Standard  of  Livingi  His  conclusions  as  to  the  fluctuations  of 
real  wages  for  the  period  are  somewhat  simular  to  those  of  Professor 
P.  H.  Douglass  of  the  University  of  Chicago  in  an  article  entitled, 
The  Movement  of  Real  Wages  from  1890  to  1918,  which  appeared 
in  the  spring  issue  of  the  American  Economic  Review  for  1921. 
We  quote  as   follows  from  the  latter  article: 

From  1912  to  1916  money  wages  not  only  held  their  own  but  indeed  gained 
slightly  upon  prices,  but  the  sudden  upward  movement  of  prices  in  1916  was 
accompanied  by  only  a  slight  increase  in  wage  rates  and  the  result  was  that 
in  two  years  the  purchasing  power  of  hourly  wage  declined  27.1  per  cent  and 
the  purchasing  power  of  full  time  weekly  earnings  26  per  cent.  Money  wage 
began  to  gain  upon  prices  in  1918  and  in  consequence  real  wages  rose  in  that 
year  over  the  low  water  mark  of  1917. 

This  analysis  may  throw  some  light  upon  the  rise  in 
1917  and  the  fall  in  1918  of  both  the  new  and  old  cases  in  the 
Court  of  Domestic  Relations.  Employment  was  peculiarly  easy  to 
obtain  in  Philadelphia  in  1918.  It  is  too  early  as  yet  to 
get  any  reliable  studies  of  real  wages  for  the  last  two  years, 
but  the  industrial  depression  which  began  within  two  years  of  the 
armistice  must  be  considered.  Although  prices  were  high  during 
the  war,  employment  was  plentiful.  This  was  especially  true  in 
Philadelphia.  The  reverse  of  this  situation  became  true  with  the 
shutting  down  of  the  local  war  industries  and  the  development  of 
a  period  of  economic  depression.  Unemployment  was  more  severe 
in  1920  than  in  1919  and  the  earlier  stages  of  economic  depression 
were  displaying  themselves.^  The  domestic  relations  cases  show 
a  rise  in  1919,  but  only  to  about  the  level  of  1917.  The  new  court 
cases  of  desertion  and  non -support  in  1920  do  not  show  any  increase 
over  those  of  1919,  but  if  anything,  a  slight    decrease.     The  pos- 


3.     See  The  Crisis  of  1920  in  the  United  States  by  W.  M.  Persons  in  the 
American  Economic  Review  Supplement,  March  1922. 


266  The  Journal  of  Delinquency 

sible  effect  of  the  advent  of  national  prohibition  in  this  year 
will  be  discussed  later. 

In  conclusion,  it  may  be  said  that  our  study  does  seem  to  show  some 
correlation  between  economic  conditions  and  the  rate  of  desertion 
and  non-support.  The  connection  is  not  close  because  the  annual 
fluctuations  of  the  desertion  rate  are  not  very  great.  Moreover, 
the  last  year  (1920)  does  not  show  the  increase  which  would  be  ex- 
pected. Again,  the  period  is  not  only  very  short,  but  it  is  crossed 
by  other  important  factors.  Finally,  it  must  be  remembered  in  what 
sense  we  are  using  the  term  desertion.  We  are  reading  the  deser- 
tion rate  in  the  annual  number  of  new  cases  listed  as  desertion  and 
non-support  in  the  Domestic  Relations  Court.  This  must  be  remem- 
bered when  the  above  results  are  compared  with  the  other  studies 
mentioned  in  the  following  paragraphs.  It  goes  without  saying 
that  a  certain  allowance  must  be  made  in  point  of  time.  Cases 
are  not  brought  into  court  immediately,  and  this  "spread"  must 
be  considered.  ^ 

Studies  made  in  other  places  and  at  other  times  from  the  appeals 
to  organized  charity  do  not  show  such  a  correlation.  The  Boston  in- 
restigation  of  3901  made  by  Miss  A.  D.  Smith  did  not  show  such  a  re- 
sult. E.  E.  Eubank's  study  in  Chicago  also  showed  just  the  reverse. 
We  quote  the  latter  as  follows: 

During  the  winter  of  1914-1915  Chicago,  in  company  with  the  other  cities 
of  the  United  States,  passed  through  the  severest  condition  of  unemployment 
of  more  than  two  decades.  The  strain  upon  her  public  and  private  charities 
was  the  most  exacting  that  they  have  ever  experienced.  Yet  the  percentage 
of  applications  for  relief  from  deserted  families  was  much  less  than  in  nor- 
mal years. 

There  was  an  increase  of  thirty-five  per  cent  in  the  number 
of  cases  aided  and  an  actual  decrease  of  ten  per  cent  in  the  percent- 
age of  desertion  cases.  The  secretary  of  Society  for  Organizing 
Charity  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia  asserts  that  the  percentage  of  de- 
sertion cases  aided  in  this  city  has  been  remarkably  constant. 
Mr.  Max  Herzberg,  Secretary  of  the  United  Hebrew  Charities  of 
Philadelphia  wrote  as  follows  in  the  Philadelphia  City  Club  Bulletin 
of  February  twelfth,  1913: 

Poverty  enters  very  little  into  the  question  of  family  desertion.  In  other 
words  men  do  not  desert  their  wives  because  of  industrial  conditions;  they 
very  rarely  desert  them  because  of  unemployment.  I  have  taken  the  trouble 
for  a  number  of  years  to  gather  some  statistics  on  the  question  of  causes  of 
desertion,  and  particularly  with  reference  to  the  question  of  desertion  in  so 
called  periods  of  industrial  crisis;  and  taking  the  last  five  or  six  years  (prior 
to  1913)  as  a  criterion  and  statistics  of  the  years  prior  to  that  will  prove  the 


Family  Desertion  and  Non-Support  267 

6ame  thing.  I  find  that  in  1906  seventeen  and  one-half  per  cent  of  all  the 
cases  which  came  to  our  attention  were  due  to  lack  of  employment  or  insuf- 
ficient work,  and  twelve  per  cent  were  cases  of  desertion.  In  1907,  when  times 
were  getting  worse,  the  cases  of  application  for  relief  were  nineteen  per  cent 
for  lack  of  employment,  and  only  nine  per  cent  were  cases  of  family  desertion. 
In  1908  which  was  almost  the  high  water  mark  of  the  panic  we  had^forty  per 
cent  of  the  applications  due  to  industrial  conditions,  and  only  nine  per  cent 
were  due  to  family  desertion.  In  1919,  a  year  in  which  we  all  had  a  hard 
time  to  cope  with  conditions,  fifty  per  cent  of  our  applications  were  due  to 
employment,  and  only  six  per  cent  were  due  to  family  desertion. 

During  this  five  year  period  thewar  played  an  important  part,  how 
important  it  is  difficult  to  determine.  During  the  year  1917  war  was 
declared  and  this  early  period  was  the  time  when  most  of  the  volun- 
tary enlistments  tcok  place.  Assuming  an  equal  amout  of  patriotism 
upon  the  part  of  all  heads  of  families,  those  who  held  family 
responsibilities  most  seriously  were  more  apt  to  inhibit  their  tenden- 
cies to  enlist.  It  will  be  remembered  that  our  desertion  rate  rose  in 
1917,  fell  in  1918  and  rose  again  in  1919.  In  1918  the  selective  service 
metnod  was  operating  more  smoothly  and  married  men  with  children 
were  placed  in  deferred  classifications.  In  1919  there  took  place  the 
demobilization  of  tho  greater  part  our  army.  This  was  a  very  impor- 
tant factor  because  it  concerned  several  millions  of  men,  practically 
all  of  whom  were  of  marriageable  age.  Making  soldiers  of  citizens 
was  a  great  process  of  adjustment.  An  equally  difficult  process  of 
adjustment  was  the  return  of  a  large  portion  of  our  male  population 
from  the  camp  life  to  the  home  life.  To  what  extent  did  military 
service  in  the  Great  Adventure  stimulate  the  wanderlust  and  unfit 
husbands  for  the  humdrum  routine  of  domesticity?  Attachments, 
perhaps  of  a  clandestine  sort,  may  have  been  formed  in  other  sections 
of  the  country.  Complete  figures  are  lacking,  but  the  records  of  the 
Red  Cross  and  the  various  societies  for  organizing  charity  present 
numerous  cases  of  ex-service  men  who  attempted  to  shun  the 
resumption  of  domestic  ties  or  who  found  a  return  to  the  responsibili- 
ties of  married  life  undesirable.  However,  it  is  easy  to  over-esti- 
mate this  influence  and  conviction  can  only  be  secured  by  proof  that 
the  number  of  cases  of  desertion  and  non-support  among  ex-service 
men  is  greater  than  among  the  total  married  population  of  the 
military  age. 

The  breakdown  of  the  possible  correlation  between  the  rate  of  de- 
sertion and  general  economic  conditions  during  the  last  year  of  our 
study  (1920)  might  be  eagerly  seized  upon  by  the  friends  of  prohibition. 
Unfortunately,  we  cannot  accept  such  a  simple  explanation.  How 
far,  if  at  all,  was  the  advent  of  national  prohibition  responsible   for 


268 


The  Journal  of  Delinquency 


TABLE  X.     CHARGE  OF  ALCOHOLISM 


1919 

No, 

Per  cent  of 
total  charges 

No. 

January 

118 

13.7 

26* 

February 

92 

12.7 

15 

March 

84 

10.9 

28 

April 

109 

12.5 

40 

May 

111 

13.3 

42 

June 

106 

11.4 

50 

July 

64* 

7.8 

62 

Au^st 

45 

6.0 

64 

September 

58 

7.0 

70 

October 

52 

7.0 

73 

November 

43 

7.6 

57 

December 

32 

5.4 

56 

♦July  1919 — Advent  of  War  Legislation, 
ment  in  force. 


1920 

Per  cent  of 
total  charges 

3.8 

2.9 

3.6 

5.7 

6.0 

6.3 

6.9 

7.3 

8.5 

8.6 

8.0 

8.6 


January  1920 — National  Amend- 


Fig.  6.    Drunkenness  as  a  causal  factor  in  desertion  and  non-support  cases 

(expressed  by  months  in  1919,  1920  and  1921  in  terms  of 

percentages  of  total  factors). 


Family  Desertion  and  Non- Support  269 

the  decline  in  the  number  of  domestic  relations  cases  in  1920  in  spite 
of  the  less  prosperous  economic  conditions  of  that  year?  An  answer 
favorable  to  prohibition  misfht  be  made  if  it  were  not  for  a  study  of 
the  charges  brought  against  deserting  and  non-supporting  husbands. 
In  the  early  months  of  prohibition  the  charges  of  alcoliolism 
gradually  decline,  only  to  rise  again,  however,  in  1920.  The  accom- 
panying chart  shows  the  almost  steady  drop  from  July  1919*  to 
February,  1920,  after  which  time  there  is  a  gradual  rise  again  un- 
til October,  not  reaching,  however,  the  former  high  level.  The  total 
number  of  times  alcoholism  is  mentioned  as  acharge  against  husbands 
is  as  follows  for  the  years  of  1919  and  1920.  Later  an  attempt  will 
be  made  to  analyse  this  charge  of  "alcoholism.** 

III.  THE  FACTORS  OF  RACE,  NATIONALITY  AND  RELIGION 
Let  us  pass  now  from  a  survey  of  the  amount  of  desertion  and  non- 
support  in  Philadelphia  to  a  study  of  the  causal  factors.  It  must 
again  be  emphasized  that  our  study  is  confined  to  the  court  cases  and 
that  it  is  impossible  to  generaHze  in  our  conclusions.  A  common 
method  of  classifying  causes  is  into  environmental  and  individual. 
Although  such  a  scheme  is  overlapping,  it  affords  a  good  method  of 
approach.  We  shall  consider  first  the  factors  of  race  and  nationality, 
second  the  social  and  economic  environment  from  which  the  court 
cases  come,  third  the  importance  of  conjugal  conditions  and  fourth 
the  individual  charges. 

Before  considering  the  above  factors  a  word  of  caution  is  neces- 
sary. Desertion  is  a  phenomenon  of  broken  family  life  in  the  so- 
called  lower  economic  and  social  classes.  Divorce  is  its  counterpart 
in  other  social  and  economic  groups.  A  great  proportion  of  the  negro 
population  is  to  be  found  in  the  social  classes  furnishing  deser- 
tion and  non-support,  rather  than  in  those  which  furnish  divorce. 
Hence,  a  high  rate  of  desertion  and  non-support  among  the  negroes 
is  to  be  discounted  accordingly.  The  same  is  true  to  a  less  extent  of 
the  immigrant  The  importance  of  such  discounting  has  been  pointed 
out  in  studies  of  pauperism.  In  1917,  for  illustration,  the  Philadei* 
phia  Society  for  Organizing  Charity  had  three  hundred  and  three 
(303)  colored  applicants  as  against  one  thousand  two  hundred  and 
two  (1,202)  native  American  whites,  making  a  ratio  of  one  to  four. 
The  ratio  for  the  population  of  the  entire  city  for  these  groups  in  the 
same  year  was  as  one  to  fourteen.  It  is  hardly  fair  to  say  that  the 
rate  of  pauperism  of  the  negroes  for  that  year  v^as  from  three  to 


4.     See  Annual  Report  of  Municipal  Court  for  1920. 


270  The  Journal  of  Delinquency 

four  times  as  great  as  that  of  the  native  white  groups.  The  negroes 
live  for  the  most  part  in  those  social  and  economic  groups  which 
furnish  most  of  the  pauperism. 


TABLE  XI. 

DESERTION  AND  NON-SUPPORT  A 

CCORDI 

NG 

TO  RACE 

AND  NATIONALITY^ 

Per  Cents 

Per  Cents 

Per  Cents 

1916 

1917 

1918 

Court 

Entire 

Court      Entire 

Court 

Entire 

Nativity 

Cases 

City 

Cases         City 

Cases 

City 

Native  white 

60. 

69. 

60.             70. 

58.7 

61.5 

Colored 

10. 

&.5 

9.               5. 

15.7 

5.6 

Foreign  white 

30. 

24.7 

31.             25. 

24.5 

32.9 

Countries  represented 

Russia 

10. 

5.85 

9.               6. 

8.8 

11.8 

Great  Britain 

8. 

8.64 

8.               9. 

4.4 

6.8 

Germany 

3. 

3.96 

4.               4. 

2.8 

3.8 

Austria 

2. 

1.28  ■ 

1.               1. 

2. 

2.7 

Hungary 

1. 

0.8 

1.               1. 

Italy 

4. 

2.92 

4.               3. 

3.7 

5.3 

Scandinavia 

0.4 

0.3 

0.6             0.3 

0.3 

0.5 

All  others 

1.6 

.... 

.... 

.... 

The  two  columns  of  figures  for  each  of  the  three  years  and  for 
each  of  the  nationalities  represented  are  percentages.  The 
first  column  under  each  year  represents  the  percentage 
of  cases  which  that  group  furnishes  to  the  court  in  com- 
parison with  the  total  number  of  court  cases.  The  second  column 
for  each  year  represents  the  percentage  which  the  same  national 
group  is  of  the  total  city  population.  In  the  year  1918  the  base  used 
is  not  the  entire  population,  but  the  population  over  fifteen  years  of 
age.  The  results  are  very  interesting.  Let  us  dispose  first  of  the 
negro  group.  Here  we  may  say  rather  definitely  that  colored  fami- 
lies furnish  an  amount  of  desertion  entirely  out  of  proportion  to  their 
percentage  of  the  total  population.  In  1916  and  1917  colored  fami-  ^ 
lies  furnished  about  ten  per  cent  (10%)  of  all  the  court  cases  in  de- 
sertion and  non-support,  while  their  proportion  of  the  whole  city's 
population  was  but  about  five  per  cent  (5%).  In  another  study 
made  in  1919,  out  of  the  twelve  hundred  cases  studied,  the  percent- 
age of  negro  families  rose  to  thirteen  and  two  tenths  per  cent  (13.2%). 
Although  in  the  winter  of  1918  to  1919  there  was  a  considerable  negro 
migration  to  Philadelphia  and  other  northern  cities  it  seems 
hardly  sufficient  to  explain  such  a  rise  in  the  colored  rate  for  those 


5.  Table  XI  represents  between  five  and  six  thousand  cases.  It  is  a 
compilation  of  the  tables  found  in  the  Annual  Report  of  the  Philadelphia 
Municipal  Courts  for  1916,  p.  174,  1917,  p.  52,  and  1918,  p.  54. 


family  Desertion  and  Non- Support  271 

two  years.  In  1918  the  comparison  made  is  not  to  the  total  popula- 
tion but  to  the  total  population  above  the  age  of  fifteen  years.  While 
the  colored  desertion  cases  for  that  year  (as  judged  from  the  twelve 
hundred  families  studied)  furnished  fifteen  and  seven  tenths  percent 
(15.7%)  of  the  total  number  of  cases,  the  percentage  of  adult  negroes 
in  the  entire  cityiwas  estimated  at  five  and  six  tenths  per  cent  (5. 6  %). 
Although  the  negro  migration  to  the  northern  cities  during  the  war 
makes  such  a  percentage  rather  low,  it  cannot  entirely  explain  away 
such  an  increase.  Looking  back  over  the  period  studied  we  may  say 
that  the  number  of  desertion  and  non-support  cases  in  Philadelphia 
was  twice  as  great  as  the  negro  population  would  warrant. 

The  case  is  not  so  clear  with  regard  to  the  foreign  born  population. 
At  one  time  it  was  thought  and  taught  that  the  immigrant  furnished 
an  undue  amount  of  crime.  It  was  observed  that  the  percentage  of 
foreign  born  in  the  prision  population  was  in  excess  of  the  foreign 
born  in  the  total  population.  Finally,  one  student  pointed  out  that 
the  total  population  was  not  the  proper  base.  Both  the  prison  and 
the  immigrant  population  furnish  a  remarkably  high  proportion  of 
males  of  the  so-called  criminal  age.  Basing  the  proportion,  not 
upon  the  total  population,  but  upon  the  population  exclusive  of  old 
people  and  children  a  different  result  was  obtained.  If  the  base  is 
restricted  still  further  to  the  male  population  between  those  ages, 
the  criminality  of  the  immigrant  will  shrink  still  further.  The  study 
of  desertion  in  Philadelphia  presents  a  somewhat  similar  problem. 
For  the  cases  studied  in  1916  and  in  1917  the  base  used  was  the 
entire  population.  While  the  native  whites  furnished  sixty  per 
cent  (60% )  of  the  court  cases  studied,  their  percentage  of  the  entire 
population  was  about  seventy  per  cent  (70%).  While  the  foreign 
born  percentage  of  the  court  cases  studied  was  about  thirty  per  cent 
(30%),  the  percentage  of  foreign  born  in  our  entire  city  population 
was  only  about  twenty -five  per  cent  (25%).  In  the  studies  made  in 
both  years  there  was  an  excess  of  five  per  cent  (5%)  in  the  foreign 
born  in  the  court  cases  as  against  their  proportion  in  the  entire  popu- 
lation. If  we  refine  the  population  by  the  exclusion  of  children, 
and  make  this  the  basis  of  our  comparison,  a  different  result  is 
reached.  This  was  done  in  a  study  of  twelve  hundred  cases  in  the 
year  of  1918.  While  the  native  whites  furnished  over  fifty-eight  per 
cent  (58% )  of  the  court  cases  their  percentage  of  the  adult  popu- 
lation was  sixty-one  per  cent  (61%).  The  difference  has  been  cut 
down  to  almost  equahty.   In  the  case  of  the  foreign  born  the  differ- 


272  The  Journal  of  Delinquency 

ence  is  more  remarkable.  The  foreign  born  furnished  about  thirty- 
three  percent  (33%)  of  the  adult  population  of  the  city,  but  only  a 
little  over  twenty-four  per  cent  (24%)  of  the  court  cases.  The  dis- 
crepancy in  the  figures  is  explained  by  the  high  proportion  of  negro 
desertion  figures  for  that  year.  A  study  of  twelve  hundred  cases  in 
the  year  1919  gives  further  evidence  of  the  same  sort.  Here  the 
percentage  of  native  whites  in  the  court  is  considerably  under  their 
ratio  to  the  entire  population,  but  only  slightly  under  their  ratio  to 
the  adult  population.  The  foreign  born  show  a  proportion  of  court 
cases  in  excess  of  their  ratio  to  the  entire  population,  but  not  of  the 
adult  population.  Assuming  that  the  latter  is  the  proper  basis  of  com- 
parison, we  may  say  that  the  foreign  born  of  Philadelphia  have  not 
furnished  an  undue  proportion  of  cases  of  desertion. 

A  comparison  of  the  various  nationalities  represented  in  the  previ- 
ous table  is  almost  impossible.  At  first  glance  it  would  appear  that 
that  there  is  relatively  less  desertion,  as  read  by  these  court  cases, 
among  some  national  groups  than  among  others.  A  closer  study, 
however,  will  show  the  danger  of  such  a  generalization.  It  may  well 
be  that  the  immigrants  from  Great  Britain  and  Germany  are  furnish- 
ing the  Philadelphia  Court  of  Domestic  Relations  with  comparatively 
fewer  cases  than  the  more  recent  immigration  groups  from  east- 
ern and  southern  Europe,  but  the  case  cannot  be  proven  from  the 
material  at  hand. 

It  has  been  claimed  that  mixed  marriages  are  frequently  disas- 
trous. These  are  of  two  types,  one  inwhich  the  parties  are  of  differ- 
ent nationalities  and  the  other  where  the  parties  are  of  different  re- 
ligious faiths.  Unfortunately,  we  do  not  knowfrom  this  study  what 
proportion  of  marriages  represent  different  nationalities,  nor 
where  the  proportion  of  marital  failures  are  relatively  the  highest. 
Although  the  number  of  native  born  and  foreign  born  marriages  is 
rather  high,  these  do  not  necessarily  represent  different  national 
groups,  although  one  party  may  have  been  born  in  the  new  country 
and  the  other  in  the  old  country.  Indeed,  among  some  immigrant 
groups  in  America,  it  is  alleged  that  the  policy  of  getting  a  wife  from 
the  home  country  is  rather  popular.  Considerable  residence  in 
America  is  regarded  as  unfitting  a  girl  for  submissive  domesticity. 
The  extent  and  effects  upon  family  life  of  immigrant  marriages 
within  different  national  groups  and  with  the  native  born  would 
make  a  very  interesting  study. 

Another  element  of  interest  is  length  of  residence  in   the  new 


Family  Desertion  and  Non-Support  273 

country.     The  study  of  a  thousand  court  cases  was  made  in  1916  and 
shows  the  following: 

TABLE  XII.     LENGTH  OF  RESIDENCE  OF  LITIGANTS^ 

Length  of  Residence 

in  the   United  States  Husband  Wife  Tx)tal-  — 

Under    one    year  1  3                         4 

One    year  2  5                         7 

Two    years  16  21                       37 

Three   years  38  46                       84 

Four  years  40  45                       85 

Five   years  31  36                       67 

Six   to   ten   years  213  26  239 

Eleven  to  twenty  years  341  327  668 

Over  twenty  years  288  241  592 

Unknown  130  120  250 

Our  problem  does  not  appear  among  the  foreign  born  until  after 
the  first  couple  of  years  in  America,  when  the  rate  rises  rather 
sharply.  This  would  appear  easy  of  explanation.  It  may  be  that 
tne  immigrant  husbands  and  wives  are  apt  to  cling  closer  to  each 
other  amid  the  strangeness  of  the  new  world.  It  is  certainly  true 
that  their  ignorance  of  the  law  and  the  mechanism  of  the  courts  and 
justice  tends,  especially  at  first,  to  keep  their  domestic  diflftculties  out 
of  the  courts.  A  more  significant  feature  of  the  above  study  is  that 
the  rate  of  court  cases  does  not  show  the  same  steady  rate  of  decline 
for  the  mature  years  of  married  life  as  would  be  shown  in  a  similar 
study  of  cases  taken  from  total  population.  After  the  process  of  ad- 
justment in  the  new  world  has  been  begun,  new  problems  appear. 
Strange  and  diflftcult  living  conditions  appear.  Immigrants  are  crowd- 
ed into  the  congested  quarter  of  the  city.  Housing  conditions  are 
such  that  several  families  must  live  together.  The  problem  of  the 
lodger  threatens  the  family  life,  for  among  the  immigrants  there  is 
an  excess  of  unmarried  men.  The  remarkable  thing  is  that  the  fam- 
ily life  of  these  immigrant  peasants  endures  so  well  the  process  of 
urbanization  in  America.  It  may  well  be  that  the  situation  is  more 
serious  than  the  proportion  of  court  cases  would  indicate,  because 
of  the  reluctance  of  the  immigrant  to  use  the  machinery  of  the  law. 

Another  important  factor  besides  that  of  nativity  is  religion.  Its 
significance  may  be  glimpsed  by  seeing  the  overwhelming  proportion 
of  marriages  which  are  sanctified  by  some  sort  of  religious  service. 
The  following  studies  were  made  of  several  thousand  court  cases 
to  ascertain  the  type  of  marriage  ceremony  which  was  used.     There 


6.     See  Annual  Report  of  Philadelphia  Municipal  Court  for  1916.  p.  175. 


274  The  Journal  of  Delinquency 

is  no  reason  for  supposing  that  the  high  proportion  of  religious 
marriages  is  something  peculiar  to  desertion  cases.  The  following 
figures  are  given  merely  to  show  the  close  relationship,  at  least 
formal,  between  religion  and  the  marrage  tie. 


TABLE    XIII.     TYPES 

OF    MARRIAGE 

CEREMONY^ 

1917 

1919 

Total 

Per  cent 

Civil                              97 

57 

154 

Less    than      7 

Religious                  1047 

1080 

2127 

More   than    90 

Common    law               35 

27 

62 

Less    than      3 

Total                     1179 

1164 

2343 

In  our  survey  of  the  religions  represented,  we  will  restrict  our- 
selves to  the  three  most  important  groups  in  America,  the  Catholic, 
Protestant  and  Jewish.  Minor  sects  like  the  Greek  Catholic  exist  in 
Philadelphia,  but  are  of  small  numerical  importance.  The  following 
studies  of  Domestic  Relations  Court  cases  coyer  over  six  thousand 
cases. 


TABLE  XIV. 

RELIGIOUS  AFFILIATIONS 

1916 

1917          1918          1919 

total 

Per  cent 

Protestant              1,135 

483            564            504 

2,686  : 

,,    42.8 

Catholic                  1,095 

382            321            355 

2,153 

34.3 

Mixed    (C  &  P)      409 
Jewish                       263 

153            168            144 

874 

13.9 

95              93         .  119 

570 

,          .     9.        r 

Total                   2,902 

1,113         1,146         1,122 

6,283 

The  church  census  for  1916  reports  over  four  hundred  thousand 
(400,000)  Roman  Catholics  and  over  three  hundred  thousand  (300,000) 
Protestants  in  Philadelphia.  This  represents  a  proportion  of  about 
three  Protestants  to  four  Catholics  in  Philadelphia.  This  is  just  the 
reverse  of  the  court  cases,  which  show  a  similar  excess  of  Protes- 
tants. This  result  is  very  interesting  in  view  of  the  position  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  church  upon  divorce  and  the  family.  There  are  critir 
cisms  of  this  result  which  in  fairness  must  be  mentioned.  It  is 
claimed  that  the  church  census  figures  are  not  fair  or  typical  because 
of  the  great  numbers  of  Protestants  who  are  unchurched,  that  is  are 
not  listed  as  members  of  any  congregation.  If  they  wereincluded  irr 
the  general  population  of  the  city,  the  number  of  Protestant  court 
cases  would  not  show  any  such  excessive  proportion.  Moreover,  we 
have  seen  that  the  rate  for  the  negroes  is  rather  high  and  this  group 
is  predominatingly  Protestant.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  appeals  to 
organized  charity  are  at  all  typical  of  the  total  population,  or  better 
still  of  the  population  groups  represented  in  the  Domestic  Relations 


7.     See  Anual  Report  for  1917,  p.  82. 


F<imily  Desertion  and  Non-Support  275 

Court  cases,  the  above  ratio  between  Catholics  and  Protestants  must 
stand.  In  1916  the  number  of  Protestant  cases  cared  for  by  the  So- 
ciety for  Organizing  Charity  was  two  thousand  one  hundred  and 
forty-eight  (2,148),  while  the  number  of  Catholic  cases  was  two 
thousand  three  hundred  and  eighty-four  (2,384)  and  the  number  of 
cases  classified  as  mixed  was  two  hundred  and  seventy-seven  (277). 
In  1917  the  number  of  Protestant  cases  was  one  thousand  two  hun- 
dred and  seventy-three  (1,273)  and  the  number  of  Catholic  cases  one 
thousand  five  hundred  and  sixty-six  (1,566). 

The  church  census  for  1916  gives  the  Jewish  church  membership 
a  ridiculously  small  estimate.  Because  of  the  great  number  of  this 
group  that  is  unchurched  it  is  impossible  to  state  what  their  propor- 
tion is  of  the  total  city  population.  Their  part  of  the  total  number  of 
court  cases  is  almost  one  tenth. 

Unfortunately,  we  cannot  compare  the  proportion  of  marriages 
between  those  of  different  religious  faiths  in  the  court  cases  with 
that  in  the  general  population.  The  latter  information  is  lacking. 
In  the  preceding  table  four  religious  groupings  were  analysed  from 
the  court  cases.  Of  these  four  groups  mixed  marriages  between 
Protestants  and  Catholics  comprised  fourteen  per  cent  (14%)  of  the 
total.  This  would  seem  to  be  a  rather  high  figure.  Moreover, 
religious  differences  are  given  frequently  as  a  cause  of  domestic 
diflSculties  by  those  coming  into  the  Court  of  Domestic  Relations,  as 
will  be  seen  later. 

IV.     THE  SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  ENVIRONMENT 

Let  us  turn  next  to  a  consideration  of  the  social  and  economic 
environment  of  the  families  which  are  furnishing  the  Philadelphia 
Court  of  Domestic  Relations  with  desertion  and  non-support  cases. 
It  must  again  be  emphasized  that  it  is  impossible  to  generalize.  The 
wealthier  families  may  have  no  healthier  family  life  and  the  broken 
marriage  ties  in  those  classes  may  be  read  in  the  divorce  rate  rather 
than  in  the  amount  of  desertion  and  non-support  which  they  furnish. 
On  the  other  hand,  some  of  the  worst  cases  of  desertion  and  non- 
support  may  never  be  brought  before  the  courts.  The  social  worker 
may  not  desire  to  bring  the  husband  back  into  the  home  or  the  wife 
may  despair  of  obtaining  support  from  him.  Our  description  of  the 
social  and  economic  environment  is  applicable  then  only  to  the  group 
of  cases  studied. 

Housing    conditions   furnish  one   key    to    standards    of    living. 


276  The  Journal  of  Delinquency 

The  study  of  a  number  of  desertion  and  non-support  cases  show  that 
the  Philadelphia  Court  of  Domestic  Relations  draws  from  neither 
the  wealthy  nor  the  very  poor  classes.  The  great  majority  of  fam- 
ilies live  in  homes  rather  than  in  tenements  or  furnished  rooms. 
Perhaps  this  is  typical  of  Philadelphia  rather  than  of  the  group  stud- 
ied. There  is  a  considerable  percentage  of  those  who  own  their  own 
homes.  For  the  entire  city  the  proportion  among  the  total  popula- 
tion was  found  to  be  twenty-six  per  cent  (26%).  Various  studies  of 
a  number  of  court  cases  revealed  the  following  proportions  in  the 
cases  of  the  litigants.  In  1916  two  hundred  and  one  (201)  out  of 
three  thousand  two  hundred  and  ninety-four  (3,294),  representing 
six  per  cent  (6.1%);  in  1917  seventy  (70)  out  of  nine  hundred  and 
eighty  two  (982),  representing  seven  per  cent  (7.1%),  in  1918  sixty- 
one  (61) out  of  one  thousand  and  forty-one  (1,041),  representing  five 
per  cent  i5.8%),  and  in  1919  ninety-four  (94)  out  of  nine  hundred 
and  ninety-six  (996),  representing  nine  per  cent  (9.6%)  owned  their 
own  homes.  Thus,  the  average  percentage  of  home  ownership 
among  the  cases  is  about  seven  per  cent  (7.1%)  as  'compared  with 
between  three  and  four  times  that  rate  for  the  general  population 
of  the  city.  In  a  large  number  of  cases  the  homes  were  mortgaged 
in  varying  degrees.     The  same  is  true  of  the  general  population. 

The  types  of  housing  conditions  prevalent  among  the  litigants 
in  the  Philadelphia  Court  of  Domestic  Relations  may  be  glimpsed 
from  the    following  summary  of  studies  made  in  1916  and  in  1919. 

TABLE   XV.     HOUSING  CONDITIONS^ 

1916  1919 

White  Colored  Total 


No. 

% 

No. 

% 

No. 

% 

No. 

% 

Boarding  houses 

304 

10 

21 

6 

325 

10 

37 

4 

Furnished  rooms 

344 

12 

116 

34 

460 

14 

115 

11 

Apts.  &  tenements 

268 

9 

30 

9 

298 

9 

141 

14 

Rented  houses 

1858 

63 

172 

50 

2030 

61 

609 

61 

Houses  owned 

197 

6 

4 

1 

201 

6 

94 

10 

It  will  be  noted  how  large  a  proportion  of  the  families  live  in 
rented  houses.  The  proportion  reaches  sixty-one  per  cent  (61  % )  in 
the  cases  studied  in  the  two  years.  For  the  colored  families  the 
proportion  is  less.  It  is  still  less  in  the  proportion  of  homes  owned. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  proportion  of  families  living  in  furnished 
rooms  is  much  greater  for  the  negro  families  than  for  the  whites. 
These  comparisons  are  true  among  the  general  population  although 
we  have  not  made  quantitative  comparisons  in  the  rates. 


8.     See  Annual  Report  for  1916,  p.  182. 


Family  Desertion  and  Non-Support  277 

Housing  conditions  may  also  be  rated  according  to  the  amount 
of  rent  raid.     The  following  table  covers  some  five  thousand  cases 
which  have  come  befor  the  Philadelphia  Court  of  Domestic  Relations. 
TABLE  XVI.     AMOUNT  OF  RENT  PAID^  _ 


1917 

1918 

1919 

Total 

Per  cent 

No  rent,  (living 

with  relatives) 

37 

86 

127 

250 

Less  than  $5 

49 

36 

11 

96 

3 

$  5  -  $10 

225 

151 

420 

796 

29 

10  -   15* 

337* 

314* 

210* 

801* 

31* 

15  -   20 

209 

250 

111 

570 

20 

21  -   25 

63 

78 

43 

184 

7 

26  -   30 

28 

38 

19 

85 

3 

31  -   40 

21 

31 

43 

95 

4 

41  -   50 

9 

8 

20 

37 

2 

Above  50 

2 

8 

13 

23 

1 

'Median 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  in  the  three  years  studied  the  median 
rental  did  not  rise  as  did  the  general  cost  of  living.  Later  we  shall 
see  how  wages  rose  in  the  same  groups. 

Another  approach  to  housing  conditions  and  standards  of  living  is 
by  a  consideration  of  the  size  of  the  lodgings.  The  following  table 
covers  the  years  1916,  1917  and  1919. 

TABLE  XVIII.     SIZE  OF  LODGINGi" 


No,  of  rooms 

1916 

1917 

1919 

White 

Colored 

Total 

One 

492 

146 

638 

171 

121 

Two 

293 

79* 

372 

99 

96 

Three 

255 

23 

278 

91 

88 

Four 

429 

26 

455* 

142 

116 

Five 

1446* 

124 

1570 

90* 

103* 

Six 

1446 

124 

1570 

225 

196 

Seven 

1446 

124 

1570 

105 

96 

Eight 

1446 

124 

1570 

61 

51 

Nine  or  more 

1446 

124 

1570 

57 

63 

♦Median 

It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  the  jump  in  the  median  size  of  the 
lodging  from  1916  to  1917  is  very  slight,  and  that  there  is  no  increase 
in  1919  over  that  of  1917.  The  difference  between  the  white  and 
negro  standard  of  living  as  illustrated  by  the  size  of  the  lodging  is 
significant. 

Six  thousand  cases,  half  of  which  came  into  the  Philadelphia 
courts  in  1916  and  the  other  half  in  1917  and  1918,  show  the  follow- 


9.  See  Anual  Report  for  1917,  p.  85  and  for  1918,  p.  88. 

10.  See  Annual  Keport  for  1916,  p.  183  and  for  1917,  p.  84. 


27g 


The  Journal  of  Delinquency 


ing  medians  for  the  number  of  rooms  occupied  in  proportion  to  the 
size  of  the  family. 

TABLE  XVIII.    SIZE  OF  LODGINGS  IN  PROPORTION  TO  SIZE 


OF 

FAMILIES" 

Size  of  family 

1916 

1917 

1918 

Two 

4 

rooms 

2 

rooms 

3    rooms 

Three 

4 

n 

4 

}y 

4        " 

Four 

4 

If 

5 

ft 

5        " 

Five 

5 

ft 

6 

ff 

6       " 

Six 

5 

tf 

6 

ft 

6 

Seven 

5 

ff 

6 

tf 

e       " 

Eight 

6 

f* 

7 

tf 

6       " 

Nine  ox 

more 

6 

» 

7 

tt 

8        " 

In  our  study  of  the  social -economic  groups  represented  by  the 
eases  in  the  CJourt  of  Domestic  Relations  let  us  turn  from  a  survey 
of  housing  conditions  to  a  study  of  the  occupations  of  the  husbands 
which  make  up  this  group.  The  following  table  is  based  upon  a 
study  of  twelve  hundred  cases  in  1918. 


TABLE  XIX.     OCCUPATIONAL  GROUPS  OF  HUSBANDS^^ 


■" 

Census 

' 

Percentage 

Percentage 

Occupations  of  Husbands 

of 

for  total 

Proprietors,  officials 

Number 

court  ctcses 

pop.  of  city 

and   managers 

64 

5.3 

27 

Clerks,   etc. 

116 

9.7 

9 

Skilled  workers 

313 

26.1 

13 

Semi-skilled 

262 

21.8 

12 

Laborers 

284 

23.7 

32 

Servants 

54 

4.5 

3 

Public   officials 

9 

.7 

4 

Semi-officials 

35 

2.9 

1 

Professional 

19 

1.6 

3 

Not  stated 

44 

3.7 

4 


It  will  be  seen  that  the  first  group  has  a  much  smaller  percentage 
in  the  court  cases  than  in  the  entire  population.  The  same  is  true  of 
the  last  group.  Professional  and  prosperous  business  men  are 
fj^presented  proportionally  in  this  group.  On  the  other  extreme,  the 
percentage  of  laborers  and  servants  is  also  less  than  that  in  the 
entire  population.  On  the  other  hand,  the  proportion  of  cases  which 
come  from  the  intermediate  groups,  representing  particularly  skilled 
and  semi-skilled  labor  is  far  out  of  proportion  to  their  percentage  of 
the  entire  population.  We  cannot  say  that  these  groups  have  a  more 
unstable  family  life  or  even  that  desertion  itself  is  more  common  in 
these  groups.     With  the  higher  social  and  economic  groups  divorce 


11.  See  Annual  Report  for  1916,  1917  and  1918* 

12.  See  Annual  Report  for  1918,  p.  72. 


d 


Family  Desertion  and  Non-Support  2T9- 

plays  a  greater  part  that  in  the  lower.  With  regard  to  the  lowest 
groups  we  have  no  means  of  knowing  how  many  cases  of  desertion 
occurred  which  never  came  into  court.  Indeed,  all  that  we  are 
permitted  to  say  is  that  in  the  cases  of  desertion  and  non-support 
which  come  into  the  court  the  proportion  is  unduly  high  for  these 
intermediate  groups.  The  study  of  a  similar  number  of  cases  made 
in  1917  shows  the  same  result  and  gives  us  more  information 
concerning  the  various  occupations  represented, 

TABLE  XX.     OCCUPATIONS  OF  HUSBANDS^^ 


Skilled 

Mangers 

Clerks       Workers  ; 

Semi-skilled  Laborers 

Total 

Occupations        No.       %. 

No.     %    No.         % 

No. 

% 

No. 

% 

No. 

% 

Agriculture 

... 

. 

5 

0.5 

Manufacturing     24     2.0 

....     ""      336     29;0 

169 

14 

140 

12.0 

669 

57.5 

Transportation      7     G.ft 

7     0.6         4       0.3 

63 

5 

106 

9.0 

187 

15.5 

Trade                     47     4.0 

40     3.0       

15 

1 

10 

.8 

112 

9.0 

Public  service  (detectives 

,  inspectors,  firemen, 

etc.) 

.... 

•w.. 

...^ 

39 

4.0 

Professional          28     2.0 

28 

2.0 

Domestic  and 

personal  service  5     0.4 

.- 

12 

1 

72 

6.0 

89 

7.0 

Other    clerical       

48     4.0       .."." 

48 

4.0 

Total  ct.  cases  111     9.0 

95     7.6     340     29.3 

259 

21 

328 

27i 

.... 

.... 

Per  cent  in  city- 

population           ....  27.0 

....    9,0       ....     13.0 

.... 

12 

.... 

32,0 

..^. 

.... 

Let  us  now  approach  the  problem  of  classification  into  social- 
economic  groups  not  from  the  side  of  the  occupations  represented, 
but  from  the  wages  received.  The  following  table  covers  over  six. 
thousand  cases  from  the  year  1916: 

TABLE  XXI.    WAGES  OF  HUSBANDS  IN  1916^ 

Number ,  Per  cent  Total 

Wages  received  White  Colored  White  Colored  Number  Per  cent 

Under    $10  157  74  6  24  231  7^ 

$10    —    15  1234  186  45  59  1420  46% 

16    —    20  767  42  28  13  809  26% 

21    —    25  362  9  13  2  371  12^^ 

Over        25  216  3  8  2  219  7% 

Total  2736  314  100  100  3050  100 

In  the  above  desertion  cases  studies  in  1916  the  median  wage  for 
the  white  group  was  about  fifteen  dollars  and  that  for  the  colored 
group  somewhere  between  ten  and  fifteen  dollars. 


13.  See  Annual  Report  of  Philadelphia  Municipal  Court  for  1917,  p.  63. 

14.  See  Annual  Reports  for  1916,  1917  and  1918. 


280 


The  Journal  of  Delinquency 


A  similar  study  in  1917  and  1918  would  seem  to  show  that  desertion 
is  the  poor  man's  divorce.     The  figures  are  as  follows: 

TABLE  XXII.     WAGES  OF  HUSBANDS  IN  1917  AND  1918 


Wages  received 

Number  receiving 

them   in 

Total 

19X7 

1918 

Unemployed 

15 

IX 

26 

$  3 

1 

2 

3 

5 

2 

1 

a 

e 

3 

0 

3 

7 

2 

2 

4 

8 

2 

1 

3 

9 

13 

1 

14 

10  -  11 

53 

11 

64 

12  -  la 

133 

27 

160 

14  -  15 

197 

104 

301 

16  -  17 

123* 

97, 

.220 

18  -  19 

150 

137 

287* 

20  -  24 

209 

267* 

476 

25  -  29 

78 

158 

236 

30  -  34 

47 

82 

129 

35  -  39 

18 

41 

59 

40  -  44 

8 

28 

36 

45  -  49 

4 

7 

11 

50  -  59 

7 

7 

14 

60  -  69 

1 

4 

5 

70  -  79 

3 

5 

8 

80  and  over 

5 

9 

14 

♦Median  wage  group 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  median  wage  group  in  1917  has  advanced  to 
those  receiving  about  sixteen  or  seventeen  dollars.  In  1918 
the  median  is  to  be  found  in  the  group  making  between  twenty  and 
twenty-four  dollars.  The  median  for  the  total  number  for  the  two 
year  period  is  the  group  receiving  eighteen  or  nineteen  dollars.  It  is 
important  to  notice  the  small  number  unemployed  during  these  two 
war  years.  A  study  of  twelve  hundred  cases  in  1919  shows  that  for 
that  year  the  median  wage  has  jumped  to  the  group  making  between 
twenty-five  and  thirty  dollars. 

The  social- economic  groups  which  are  furnishing  our  courts  with 
the  desertion  and  nor -support  cases  are  made  up  of  those  families 
which  are  dependent  upon  their  own  earnings  for  support.  The 
class  which  lives  upon  income  derived  from  property  rights  is  almost 
non-existent.  To  how  great  an  extent  this  is  true  may  be  seen  from 
a  study  of  twelve  hundred  court  cases  in  1919.  In  twenty-four  cases 
no  information  could  be  secured,  in  forty-seven  cases,  representing 
only  four  per  cent  (4%)  of  the  total  there  was  some  income  from 
sources  other  than  their  own  earnings  and  in  eleven  hundred  and 
twenty-nine  (1,129)  cases,  representing  ninety-six  percent  (96%)  of 


I 


Family  Desertion  and  Non-Support  281 

the  total  there  was  no  such  additional  income.  With  regard  to  this 
four  per  cent  (4%),  in  whose  cases  there  was  additional  income  over 
and  above  their  earnings,  how  small  a  part  it  played  may  be  seen 
from  the  following  summary: 

TABLE    XXIII.     FAMILY    INCOME   EXCLUSIVE    OF    WAGES 


Size  of  additional  income 

Number  of  families  receiving  U 

Less  than  $5  per  week 

4 

$  5  -  $  9.99 

15 

10  -     14.99 

9 

15  -     19.99 

6 

20  -     24.99 

3 

25  -     49.99 

9 

50  -     99.99 

0 

100  and  over 

1 

Of  this  small  group  which  boasts  of  income  in  addition  to  that  from 
earnings  the  median  amount  is  from  ten  to  fifteen  dollars  a  week. 
It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that  in  many  cases  the  family  in- 
come is  not  solely  made  up  of  the  wages  of  the  father  and  husband. 
Although  there  may  be  no  property  income  the  family  budget  is  fre- 
quently supplemented  by  the  earnings  of  the  wives  and  older  chil- 
dren. In  a  study  of  twelve  hundred  cases  in  1919  two  hundred  and 
eighty-two  (282)  women  reported  gainful  employment  as  follows. 
We  give  the  list  of  occupations  because  it  is  typical  of  other  years. 

TABLE  XXIV.     OCCUPATIONS  OF  WIVES  GAINFULLY  EMPLOYED 

Day  workers  66 

Factory  operatives  54 

Clerks  and  stenographers  23 

Domestic   servants  19 

Waitresses  17 

Saleswomen  15 

Cleaners  13 

Dressmakers  and  milliners  12 
All  others,  e.  g.  employed  in  the  home  (boarding  houses)     53 

TOTAL  272 

In  the  twelve  hundred  cases,  two  hundred  and  seventy-two  (272) 
women  were  gainfully  employed  and  in  27  cases  it  was  impossible  to 
obtain  information  upon  this  point.  Thus,  for  this  group  the  per- 
centage of  wives  employed  is  twenty-three  per  cent  (23%)  of  the 
total.  The  economic  emancipation  of  women  has  been  stressed  in 
explaining  the  modern  increase  of  the  divorce  rate.  In  the  case  of 
women  suing  their  husbands  for  desertion  and  non-support  the  re- 
lationship is  not  so  clear.  In  the  one  case,  it  may  be  that  women 
sue  for  divorce  because  they  are  able  to  support  themselves,  while  a 
century  ago  it  was  far  more  difficult.     May  it  be  true  to  any  extent 


282  The  Journal  of  Delinquency 

men  are  prompt  to  desert  their  wives  because  they  feel  that  under 
modern  conditions  the  wives  can  support  themselves  without  their 
help?  Was  desertion  and  non-support  less  common  in  an  economic 
regime  when  desertion  resulted  in  an  immediate  appeal  for  charity  be- 
cause it  was  impossible  for  a  woman  to  be  economically  independent? 
The  fact  that  in  so  many  cases  the  employment  is  outside  the  home  is 
another  factor.  Other  friends  and  interests  may  be  formed  and  new 
points  of  contact  with  the  world  established.  The  breaking  of  the 
economic  bonds  which  formerly  held  the  family  together  permits  the 
husband  and  wife  to  drift  further  apart.  This  is  intensified  by  con- 
ditions of  the  city  life  where  there  are  so  many  opportunities  for 
different  sorts  of  amusement.  If  the  husband  and  wife  are  sep- 
arated not  only  during  the  working  day,  but  also  during  the  hoars  of 
recreation,  the  breach  tends  to  widen. 

Although  the  number  of  wage  earning  women  in  court  cases  seems 
to  be  higher  than  the  ratio  to  the  general  population,  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  desertion  and  non-support  are  social  phenomena  which  are 
largely  localized  in  those  social  and  economic  groups  in  which  married 
women  are  more  likely  to  be  wage  earners.  Again,  our  study  is  of 
urban  conditions  where  the  proportion  of  wage  earning  women  is 
higher  than  in  the  rural  sections.  Farmers'  wives  may  work  just  as 
hard  or  even  harder,  although  they  are  not  classified  as  gainfully  em- 
ployed, because  their  work  is  in  the  home  and  not  in  some  outside 
place  of  employment. 

With  regard  to  the  amount  of  wages  received  by  the  wives  gain- 
fully employed  it  may  be  stated  that  the  study  of  a  number  of  court 
cases  for  1916  revealed  the  fact  that  in  seven  hundred  out  of  a 
thousand  cases  of  women  gainfully  employed  the  wage  was  under 
ten  dollars  ($10)  a  week.  The  cases  studied  in  1919  show  that  only 
one-third  of  the  women  gainfully  employed  were  receiving  less  than 
that  sum.  The  median  wage  for  that  year  is  to  be  found  in  the 
group  making  over  ten  dollars  but  under  fifteen  ($10  -  $15) .  This 
group  comprised  forty  per  cent  (40%)  of  the  total  number  of  cases. 
The  small  earnings  of  most  of  the  wives  explain  the  pressure  to 
bring  their  cases  into  court  to  get  a  support  order  for  themselves  and 
any  children  they  may  have. 

(To  he  continued) 


The    Journal   of   Delinquency 

Volume    VII  November,  1922  Number    <5 

FAMILY  DESERTION  AND  NON-SUPPORT 

A  STUDY  OF  COURT  CASES  IN  PHILADELPHIA   FROM   1916  TO  1920 
S.  HOWARD  PATTERSON,  Ph.  D. 
Assistant  Professor  of  JSconomics,   University  of  Pennsylvania 
{Continued  from  September  issue) 

V.     CONJUGAL  CONDITIONS 
Let  us  consider  first  the  ages  of  the  husbands  and  wives  in  the 
cases  in  the  Domestic  Relations  Court.     Table  XXV  is  a  compilation 
of  the  results  of  studies  made  in  1916, 1917,  and  1918. 
TABLE  XXV.    AGES  OF  LITIGANTS" 


men: 

60  or 

Under  20   yrs. 

20-24 

25-29 

30-34 

35-39 

40-44 

45-49 

50-54 

55-59 

over 

1916    33 

512 

767 

618 

514 

377 

295 

209 

80 

61 

1917    17 

171 

251 

201 

190 

133 

112 

65 

37 

22 

1918    19 

179 

274 

233 

164 

119 

100 

68 

23 

12 

Total    69 

862 

1292 

1052 

868 

629 

507 

342 

140 

95 

Per  cent  1 

14 

22 

18 

4 

11 

9 

6 

3 

2 

WOMEN : 

1916    274 

764 

743 

580 

422 

337 

193 

90 

26 

30 

1917     89 

252 

258 

206 

157 

110 

66 

41 

12 

8 

1918     94 

278 

298 

168 

143 

89 

73 

32 

9 

8 

Total   457 

1294 

1299 

954 

722 

536 

332 

163 

47 

47 

Per  cent  8 

22 

22 

16 

12 

9 

6 

3 

1 

1 

From  this  study  of  almost  six  thousand  cases  it  would  seem  that 
over  a  third  of  the  men  and  over  a  half  of  the  women  in  these  court 
cases  are  under  thirty  years  of  age.  Although  the  percentage  of 
men  under  twenty  is  negligible,  about  one-tenth  of  the  women  are 
minors.  The  number  of  women  between  twenty  and  twenty-four 
and  between  twenty- five  and  twenty-nine  is  greater  than  for  any 
other  periods.  For  men  the  high  water  mark  is  reached  in  the 
group  between  twenty-five  and  twenty-nine  years  of  age. 

Let  us  see  next  what  years  of  married  life  are  most  fruitful  in 
desertion  and  non-support  cases.  From  the  youth  of  the  majority  of 
the  litigants  it  would  seem  that  the  problem  is  peculiarly  one  of  the 
early  years  of  married  life.  The  summary  in  Table  XXVI  of  the  stud- 
ies of  over  six  thousand  cases  covers  the  years  of  1916,  1917  and  1918. 

15^  See  Annual  Report  of  the  Philadelphia  Municipal  Court  for  1916,  p. 
210,  for  1917,  p.  80,  and  for  1918,  p.  83. 

(299) 


300  The  Journal  of  Delinquency 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  table  that  in  almost  half  the  cases  of 
desertion  and  non-support  they  were  brought  into  the  Court  of 
Domestic  Relations  within  the  first  five  years  of  married  life.  The 
high  water  mark  appears  to  be  in  the  first  year  of  married  life,  when 
in  ten  per  cent  of  the  cases  the  family  ties  were  ruptured.  From 
that  time  on  there  is  a  gradual  steady  drop  in  the  rate  of  deser- 
tion and  non-support.  This  drop  in  the  rate  is  to  be  expected  from 
the  ordinary  chances  of  life  as  seen  from  an  actuarial  table.  It 
cannot,  however,  entirely  explain  away  the  high  proportion  of  deser- 
tion and  non-support  cases  which  represent  the  early  years  of 
married  life. 

TABLE  XXVI.     LENGTH  OF  MARRIED  LIFE" 
Number  of  years 

married  1916  1917  1918  Total  Per  cent 

Under  one  year  289  97  119  505  8.7 

One  year  313  86  90  489  8.4 

Two   years  305  95  91  491  8.5 

Three  years  239  100  86  425  7.3 

Four  years  197  75  83  355  6.1 

Five   years  184  69  84  337  5.8 
Total  for  five 

years  or  under  1527  522  553  2602  44.8 
Total  married  six 

years   or    over  1916  669  611  3196  55.2 

Grand    total  3443  1191  1164  5798  100.0 

From  studies  made  in  1916  and  1919  of  court  cases  we  find  the  fol- 
lowing information  as  to  the  time  of  marriage  of  the  litigants. 

TABLE  XXVII.     AGE  AT  MARRIAGE 

Men  Women 

Age  married                  1916    1919     Total  Per  ct    1916  1919  Total  Per  ct 

Under  20  years      334    17    351    8   1289  105  1394  31 

20  -  24     "      *1560   194   1754   39  *1326  266  *1592  36 

25  -  29     "        861   258  *1119   25    490  *208  698  15 

30  -  34     "        329  *180    509   11    182  162  344  7 

35  -  39     "        153   176    329    7     84  131  215  5 

40  and  over        200   278    478   10     62  198  260  6 
♦Median  age  at  marriage. 

The  median  age  at  marriage  as  seen  by  these  court  cases  is  from 
twenty- five  to  twenty-nine  years  for  the  men  and  from  twenty 
to  twenty-four  years  for  the  women.  The  percentages  of  men  and 
women  in  these  cases  in  the  Court  of  Domestic  Relations  who  mar- 
ried under  the  age  of  twenty  are  respectively  eight  and  thirty.  The 
Census  for  1920  reveals  the  fact  that  out  of  the  total  male  population 
nineteen  years  of  age,  six  and  one  half  per  cent  (6.5%)  are  married 


16.     See  Annual  Report  for  1916,  p.  209,  and  1917,  p.  81,  and  for  1918, 
p.  84. 


Family  Desertion  and  Non-Support 301 

and  out  of  the  total  female  population  of  the  same  age  twenty -eight 
and  a  half  per  cent  (28.6%)  are  married.  Thus,  there  is  little  in 
these  figures  to  show  that  early  marriages  are  more  apt  or  less  apt 
to  produce  desertion  cases.  The  age  at  marriage  of  the  court  liti- 
gants does  not  seem  to  be  any  earlier  than  in  the  general  population. 
Most  writers  upon  divorce  and  the  family  feel  that  early  marriages 
are  not  necessarily  more  apt  to  be  failures  than  those  contracted  at 
a  more  mature  date.  The  problem  is  not  that  of  early  marriages. 
Our  study  of  desertion  would  seem  to  point  in  the  same  direction.  A 
study  of  a  number  of  cases  before  the  Domestic  Relations  Court  in 
1916  was  made  to  find  out  how  long  the  couples  had  known  each  other 
before  marriage.  Table  XXVIII  is  the  compilation  of  three  thous- 
and cases. 

TABLE    XXVIII.     LE;NGHT  OF    ACQUAINTANCESHIP 
BEFORE    MARRIAGE,    1916" 

Number  Per  cent 

Under    four    months 406  12 

Four  to  eleven  months 542  16 

One  to  two  years 1280  38 

Three  years  or  over 1122  34 

Total 3350  100 

Unfortunately  we  cannot  prove  our  case  unless  we  know  something 
about  the  length  of  acquaintance  before  marriage  upon  the  part  of 
normal  families.  Nevertheless,  in  the  absence  of  such  information 
it  is  significant  that  in  the  cases  of  desertion  studied  only  one-third 
of  the  couples  knew  each  other  three  years  or  over  before  marriage. 
In  over  one-tenth  of  the  cases  acqaintanceship  before  marriage  was 
limited  to  less  than  four  months.  In  well  over  a  third  of  the  cases 
acquaintanceship  was  limited  to  a  period  of  less  than  one  year  before 
marriage.  A  study  of  twelve  hundred  cases  in  1919  will  show  some- 
what similar  results  as  in  Table  XXIX. 

TABLE   XXIX.     LENGTH   OF   ACQUAINTANCESHIP 
BEFORE  MARRIAGE,  1919 

Cases  Per  cent 

Less  than  one  month                                   49  4.4 
More  than  one  month  but  less 

than  six                                                     170  15.2 

Six  months  to  a  year                              139  12.5 

One  to  two  years                                         262  23.5 

Two  to  three  years                                     170  15.2 

Three  to   four   years                                 115  10.3 

Four  to  five  years                                         62  5.5 

Five   years   or   over                                     49  15.2 

This  would  seem  to  show  that  in  these  cases  one-third  of  the  mar- 
VL    See  Annual  Report  for  1916,  p.  211. 


302  The  Journal  of  Delinquency 

riagres  resulted  from  acquaintanceships  of  a  year  or  less  and  over 
one-half  of  the  marriages  from  acquaintanceship  of  two  years  or 
less.  In  both  tables  the  median  is  to  be  found  in  an  acquaintance- 
ship of  from  one  to  two  years. 

The  factor  of  children  must  be  considered  in  discussing  conjugal 
conditions.  Students  of  divorce  generally  concede  that  children  act 
as  a  binding  tie  in  the  family  life  and  that  the  rate  of  divorce  is  high- 
er among  childless  couples  than  among  those  with  children.  Let  us 
see  whether  this  holds  true  of  desertion  as  studied  in  Philadelphia 
in  the  period  under  discussion.  Table  XXX  summarizes  almost 
seven  thousand  cases  which  appeared  before  the  Domestic  Relations 
Court  from  1916  to  1919. 


TABLE  XXX.     NUMBER  OF  CHILDREN" 

Number  of 

Per 

children                J  916           1917          1918           1919           Total 

cent 

None                    900             309             354             317             1880 

28 

One                      998             341             395             305             2039 

30 

Two                      631             214             193             170             1208 

17 

Three                   386             142             128               77               733 

10 

Four                    219               83               65               36               403 

6 

Five                     151               49               29               20               249 

4 

Six                         92               19               19                 7               137 

2 

Seven                    49              29              13                1                92 

1 

Eight                    35                9                2                2                48 

1 

Nine                         9                 3                 1                 0                 13 

0.5 

Ten  or  more       13                1                1                0                15 

0.5 

Total   with   children  4937  72.0 

In  six  thousand  cases  examined  the  percentage  of  childless  couples 
is  twenty-eight  as  compared  with  the  other  seventy-two  per  cent  of 
the  couples  which  posessed  children.  The  median  group  comprises 
the  families  with  one  child.  The  proportion  of  childless  couples  in 
these  court  cases  may  seem  high,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that 
in  a  great  number  of  cases  the  litigants  have  not  been  married  very 
long.  A  flat  comparison  with  the  general  married  population  is  un- 
fair for  this  reason.  A  recent  investigation  of  the  fecundity  of 
American  wives  was  undertaken  by  the  Imigration  Commission.  The 
rate  was  found  to  be  higher  in  the  country  than  in  the  city  and  de- 
cidedly higher  among  the  foreign  than  among  the  native  born  popu- 
lation. The  percentage  of  women  under  forty-five  years  of  age  who 
had  been  married  from  ten  to  nineteen  years  and  without  children 
was  found  to  be  seven  and  four  tenths  (7.4%).  The  average  num- 
ber of  childen  born  in  such  a  group  was  found  to  be  about  four. 


18.     See  Annual  Report  for  1916,  p.  205,  1917  p.  83,  and  1918  p.  86. 


Family  Desertion  and  Non-Support  303 

The  rate  was  under  three  for  the  native  and  over  four  for  the 
foreign  born.  In  view  of  these  figures  the  proportion  of  childless 
marriages  represented  in  the  court  cases  does  not  seem  high,  for  the 
litigants  on  the  average  have  only  been  married  one-third  as  long  a 
time. 

Forced  marriages  are  commonly  regarded  as  playing  an  important 
part  in  desertion  and  non-support  cases.  Considerable  pressure  is 
often  exerted  to  compel  marriage  in  the  case  of  unmarried  mothers 
or  pregnant  women  in  order  to  legitimatize  the  sex  relationships.  Is 
such  a  social  policy  unfortunate?  The  following  studies  were  made 
by  the  Municipal  Court  in  1917  and  in  1918  of  desertion  and  non- 
support  cases. 

TABLE   XXXI.     FORCED   MARRIAGES" 

1918             1917  Total 

No   pregnancy 1024              996  2020 

Cases  of  pregnancy 157              177  334 

Total    number 1181  1173  2354 

Percentage  of  Pregnancy 
before  marriage 13.3  15.0  14.1 

From  these  two  studies  it  would  seem  that  fourteen  per  cent 
(14%)  of  the  cases  of  desertion  and  non-support  come  from  so-called 
forced  marriages.  Although  such  a  ratio  seems  high,  no  conclusions 
can  be  drawn  without  some  knovvledge  of  the  rate  of  pregnancy  be- 
fore marriage  in  the  case  of  normal  families.  Adequate  information 
upon  that  subject  is  lacking.  Miss  Colcord  quotes  in  Broken  Homes 
a  study  made  in  connection  with  the  widows  pension  fund.  There 
are  five  hundred   families   chosen  at  random.      She  states   that 

out  of  these  500  mothers  96,  or  19.2  per  cent  had  conceived  out  of  wedlock — 
or  rather  before  wedlock  judging  by  the  date  of  marriage  and  that  of 
the  first  child's  birth.  All  of  these  women  were  hard  working;  several  of  good 
standing  in  the  neighborhood  and  the  mothers  of  large  families  of  children. 

It  is  valueless  to  compare  two  sets  of  figures  from  two  different  stud- 
ies, but  if  the  latter  study  is  at  all  typical  of  the  social  and 
economic  groups  in  our  cities  which  are  furnishing  the  cases  of  de- 
sertion and  non-support  to  the  courts,  the  present  social  policy 
may  not  be  so  unfortunate  as  some  critics  claim.  Miss  Col- 
cord also  cites  A  Study  of  Bastardy  Cases  by  Louise  de  K. 
Bo  wen,  in  connection  with  the  Juvenile  Protective  Association 
of  Chicago,  1914.  This  is  a  study  of  89  forced  marriages 
which  were  brought  about  in  connection  with  bastardy  pro- 
19.    See  Annual  Report  for  1917,  p.  82,  and  for  1918  p.  85. 


304  The  Journal  of  Delinquency 

ceedings.  Fifty-three  of  the  women  said  that  the  marriage  had 
been  entered  into  willingly  upon  their  part.  Sixty  of  them  stated 
that  they  were  well  treated  by  their  husbands,  and  only  five  com- 
plained of  abuse  or  unkindness.  Out  of  the  89  marriages  brought 
about  after  proceedings  were  instituted  69  of  the  couples  were 
still  living  together  from  one  to  two  years  later,  although  20,  or  near- 
ly one  in  five  had  separated  before  the  two  year  period  was  over. 

VI.  INDIVIDUAL  CAUSES  AS  SEEN  IN  THE  CHARGES  PREFERRED 
The  problem  of  desertion  and  non-support  has  been  discussed 
largely  thus  far  in  terms  of  environment.  Such  an  explanation  is 
one  sided.  There  are  psychological  farces  within  individuals  which 
are  not  the  result  of  their  social  and  economic  background,  but  rather 
a  part  of  their  biological  heredity.  The  institution  of  the  family  it- 
self rests  upon  the  sex  instinct.  Sex  incompatibility  plays  no  small 
part  in  marital  unhappiness.  Its  importance  is  probably  greater  than 
is  admitted  because  of  our  reluctance  to  admit  and  discuss  the  prob- 
lem. In  the  lists  of  causes  of  desertion  given  by  the  wives  ^x  ex- 
cess  will  appear  in  a  small  number  of  cases.  The  proportion  may  be 
greater  than  is  actually  alleged  and  recorded.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  trouble  may  frequently  be  not  sexual  excess  upon  the  part  of  the 
husband,  but  rather  sexual  anaesthesia  upon  the  part  of  the  wife. 
Sex  jianij^rgions  must  be  mentioned,  although  numerically  unimpor- 
tant, as  shown  by  the  written  records.  V.£n£raljdia£aaes  are  a  far 
more  common  cause  of  blasted  family  life  and  happiness  in  all  classes 
of  society.  Their  relationship  to  divorce  and  desertion  cannot  be  es- 
caped. Alcoholism,  the  usfi_fi|._dru^  and  other  vicious  habits  may 
lead  a  man  to  desert  his  wife  or  a  wife  to  separate  herself  from  her 
husband.  Although  these  characteristics  are  acquired  and  not  in- 
herited some  individuals  have  greater  power  of  resistance  than  others. 
Individual  failures  and  lack  of  inhibition  may  be  the  result  of  an  in- 
herited neurotic  taint  or  of  a  degenerate  biological  stock.  These  may 
show  themselves  in  any  one  of  a  number  of  ways,  which  may  act  as 
causual  factWs  in  desertion.  The  careful  study  of  the  heredity 
of  a  number  of  families  in  which  desertion  has  frequently  appeared 
would  be  as  interesting  as  it  would  be  diflftcult. 

Modern  behavioristic  psychology  has  emphasized   instincts  and 

inherent  predispositions.     Out  of  these  or  rather   upon  these  are 

woven  the  habits  of  life.     Individuals  may  follow  the  psychological 

ineof  least  resistance  and  freely  express  certain  inherent  tendencies 


Family  Desertion  and  Non-Support  305 

in  various  ways.  By  other  individuals  and  in  other  ways  a  struggle 
may  go  on  to  inhibit  certain  predispositions.  To  what  extent  may 
desertion  and  indeed  broken  family  life  be  explained  in  terms  of  the 
unfortunate  expressions  of  certain  instincts  or  the  failure  to  repress 
others?  Balked  instincts  must  play  some  part.  Psychology  has  not 
yet  developed  to  the  stage  at  which  a  scientific  analysis  of  marital 
unhappiness  can  be  expressed  in  classified  psychological  causes. 
Intelligence  tests  are  still  in  the  progress  of  development  and  their 
results  are  uncertain.  Physical  and  in  some  cases  mental  examina- 
tions are  made  of  some  litigants  before  the  Philadelphia  Domestic 
Relations  Court.  The  role  of  the  feeble-minded  in  crime  has  been 
often  discussed.  There  may  be  reason  to  believe  that  a  psychological 
study  of  deserters  would  show  an  undue  proportion  of  subnormal 
mentality.  The  examinations  by  the  court  physicians  show  many 
deviations  from  the  normal  and  illustrate  many  curious  types.  As 
psychology  progresses  it  may  be  possible  to  measure  more  acurately 
mental  calibre  and  psychopathic  traits.  When  that  day  arrives  a 
psychological  study  of  deserters  and  divorcees  will  be  interesting. 
At  the  present  time,  all  that  we  can  say  is  that  the  dispositions  and 
temperaments  of  even  normal  individuals  differ.  Different  people 
give  different  reactions  to  similar  sets  of  conditions.  Why  will  one 
man  desert  his  wife,  but  another  will  not  under  similar  sets  of 
circumstances?  Human  nature  is  full  of  contradictions.  The  wife 
who  began  suit  against  her  husband  may  come  to  his  rescue  in  the 
court.  The  judge,  who  believes  that  he  has  affected  a  permanent 
reconciliation  between  husband  and  wife,  may  have  the  same  case  to 
settle  in  a  comparatively  short  while.  In  conclusion,  it  may  be  well 
to  state  that  the  above  paragraphs  should  not  be  construed  as 
containing  any  suggestions  that  human  nature  is  different  today  than 
at  any  previous  period.  The  psychological  and  biological  heredity  of 
the  human  race  is  probably  the  same  as  when  Hammurabi's  laws 
upon  desertion  were  written.  Our  social  enviroment  of  today  is  very 
different  from  that  of  a  century  ago,  which  may  result  in  a  different 
expression  of  these  predispositions  and  individual  variations. 

Any  analysis  of  the  so-called  individual  rather  than  the  environ- 
mental causes  of  desertion  is  difficult.  It  is  a  phenomenon  or  out- 
ward manifestation  of  broken  family  life  rather  than  a  specific  social 
disease.  It  may  be  the  result  rather  than  the  cause  of  an  unhappy 
family  life.  The  deserter  or  his  wife  may  succeed  in  concealing  the 
real    causes    from    the    probation  officer,    but   a  more   common 


306  The  Journal  of  Delinquency 

difficulty  is  that  the  men  and  women  when  questioned  do  not  know 
what  specific  motives  prompted  desertion.  Difficulty  is  experienced 
in  giving"  an  adequate  explanation  of  the  reasons  for  marital  unhap- 
piness.  Immediate  and  remote  causes  are  often  confused  in  the 
minds  of  the  narrators  and  sometimes  by  the  probation  officer  who  is 
studying  and  recording  the  case.  The  frequent  confusion  between  a 
drinker  and  an  alcoholic  is  much  in  evidence.  Generally,  both  the 
husband  and  the  wife,  when  questioned  separately,  will  pour  out 
their  minds  very  freely  to  the  social  worker.  The  analysis  of  each  is 
generally  as  frank  as  it  is  confused.  Prejudice  and  feelings  run  high. 
Each  looks  at  the  problem  from  one  angle  and  has  a  distorted  view 
of  the  entire  situation.  It  will  be  necessary  to  list  separately  the 
causes  of  the  domestic  difficulties  as  given  by  the  wives  and  as  given 
by  the  husbands. 

Although  in  the  great  majority  of  cases  the  husbands  are  the  de- 
serters, such  is  not  always  the  case.  There  are  deserted  husbands 
as  well  as  deserted  wives.  The  deserted  husband  wijh  a  child  or  two 
on  hia  hands  is  a  rare  but  a  serious  problem  to  the  social  worker. 
The  widower  by  desertion  is  legally  unable  to  remarry  and  secure 
maternal  care  for  the  children.  Moreover,  although  the  husband 
and  not  the  wife  is  generally  the  deserter  from  the  home,  it  does  not 
follow  that  the  chief  blame  rests  upon  him.  There  may  have  been 
good  reasons  for  his  action  in  separating  himself  from  his  wife.  If 
any  generalization  be  permitted,  it  may  be  said  that  in  the  court 
cases  studied  the  husband  rather  than  the  wife  is  the  chief  contribu- 
tor to  the  domestic  unhappiness.  This  may  be  due  to  our  dual  stan- 
dards of  morality  and  social  judgment.  Social  control  has  a  stronger 
hold  upon  the  actions  of  the  wife  and  mother  than  upon  the  husband 
and  father.  Moreover,  the  court  cases  of  desertion  and  non-support 
are  initiated  by  or  in  behalf  of  the  wife  and  not  the  husband.  In 
the  matter  of  divorce,  more  divorces  are  granted  to  wives  than  to 
husbands.  After  both  sides  of  the  story  have  been  reviewed  in  the 
court  cases  studied  the  fact  remains  that  the  charges  of  the  wife 
generally  outweight  the  counter  charges  of  the  husband.  Some  hus- 
bands are  able  to  reply  with  counter  charges  of  a  serious  nature, 
but  many  are  unable  to  bring  any  important  charges  in  return. 
Studies  have  been  made  by  the  Municipal  Court  which  show  the 
causal  factors  in  a  number  of  cases  in  each  year.  Out  of  twelve 
hundred  cases  in  the  Domestic  Relations  CouH  in  1917  eighty-eight 
women  were  unable  to  bring  any  charge  against  their  husbands,   but 


I 


I 


Family  Desertion  and  Non-Support 


307 


six  hundred  and  seventy-nine  men  were  unable  to  bring  counter 
charges.  In  the  same  number  of  cases  in  1918  the  ratio  was  one 
hundred  and  fifteen  to  six  hundred  and  eight.  Although  the 
nature  of  the  causes  is  more  important  than  the  mere  number, 
yet  the  numerical  ratio  between  the  charges  of  the  women  and 
men  is  somewhat  significant. 

Both  desertion  and  non-support  are  results  of  unhappy  family  life. 
We  seek  not  the  immediate  causes  of  the  actual  desertion,  but  rather 
the  causes  of  the  domestic  difficulties  which  reflect  themselves  in 
that  fashion.     In  the  following  table  for  1916,  an  attempt  was  made 

TABLE  XXXII.  CHARGES  OF  WIVES  AND  COUNTER  CHARGES 


OF 

HUSBANDS^ 

1916 

Charaes  of  Wives_ 

\Chargi 

es  of  Husbands. 

Total 

White 
TU9 

QolQXSid  1  Total 

WMie  QolQxsd, 

Temperamental  traits 

505 

467 

•371 

382 

285 

Abusive  treatment 

225 

225 

230 

28 

28 

31 

Abusive   language 

190 

192 

166 

79 

77 

88 

Laziness 

53 

55 

42 

28 

27 

36 

In  laws 

35 

35 

29 

189 

200 

104 

Religious    differences 

2 

2 

.... 

5 

6 

Nagging 



42 

44 

26 

Alcoholism  and  narcotics 

231 

236 

199 

111 

106 

155 

Alcoholism 

229 

234 

198 

108 

102 

155 

Drugs 
>"  Distinct  sex  factors 

2 

185 

2 

180 

1 
220 

(Sqlp 

4 
294 

dg^ 

Other  women 

161 

155 

207 

^ — ^ 

. 

. 

Other  men 

102 

96 

159 

Incompatibility 

20 

21 

18 

64 

64 

68 

Jealousy 

20 

21 

18 

39 

36 

57 

Venereal  diseases 

13 

14 

9 

8 

9 

5 

Sex  excess 

10 

11 

3 

1 

1 

Adultery- 

10 

8 

9 

25 

27 

io 

Sex  perversion 

10 

7 

.... 

.... 

.... 

Enforced  prostitution 



1 

3 





.... 

Illegitmate    children 

1 

1 

4 

2 

16 

Economic  issues 

TO 

66 

107 

170 

169 

170 

Stinginess 

36 

S3 

62 

1 

1 

.... 

Gambling 

20 

19 

26 

1 

1 

5 

Economic  incompetency 

11 

11 

17 

.... 



Step  children 

2 

2 

1 

11 

11 

16 

Extravagance 

1 

1 

1 

29 

29 

26 

Domestic  incompetency 



128 

127 

129 

Mental  and  physical  troubles 

9 

"9 

"l 

46 

49 

21 

Marked    mental    peculiarities 

6 

6 

6 

29 

31 

11 

Physical  disability 

3 

3 

1 

17 

18 

10 

by  the  social  workers  of  the  Philadelphia  Municipal  Court  to  show 
the  comparative  weight  of  the  different  factors  in  causing  domestic 
difficulties.     It  is  expressed  not  in  percentages  but  per  thousand.    It 
20     See  Annual  Report  for  1916,  p.  202. 


308  The  Journal  of  Delinquency 

attempts  to  illustrate  the  numerical  importance  of  the  different 
charges  as  compared  with  each  other,  first  of  husbands,  white  and 
colored,  and  then  among  the  wives,  white  and  colored.  It  takes  the 
form  of  wives'  charges  against  their  husbands  and  husbands'  charges 
against  their  wives.  It  goes  without  saying  that  it  affords  no  basis 
for  comparing  quantitatively  the  part  played  by  wives  with  the  part 
played  by  husbands  in  wrecking  the  home  life.  The  table  attempts 
to  classify  the  causal  factors  into  four  groups,  i.e.,  temperamental 
traits,  alcoholism  and  narcotics,  distinct  sex  factors,  economic  issues 
and  mental  and  physical  troubles.  Such  a  classification  is  interesting 
but  somewhat  misleading.  Under  temperamental  traits  religious 
difficulties  and  abusive  treatment  find  common  classification,  while 
alcoholism  as  a  causal  factor  is  separated  from  the  latter  cause.  Can 
alcoholism,  if  the  lerm  is  used  correctly,  and  the  use  of  narcotics  be 
separated  from  mental  and  perhaps  physical  defects?  Should  jeal- 
ousy and  veneral  diseases  be  grouped  together  under  distinct  sex  f  ac- 
tors "^  Any  classification  would  immediately  lay  itself  open  to  similar 
criticism.  To  speak  quantitatively  of  the  causes  of  desertion  and 
non-support  in  terms  of  temperamental  traits  or  of  economic  issues 
is  impossible.  All  that  we  can  do  is  to  note  the  frequent  recurrence 
of  certain  particular  causes  and  the  frequent  association  of  a  number 
of  them. 

There  are  interesting  comparisons  in  alleged  causes  of  desertion 
and  non -support  among  the  negro  as  compared  with  the  white  popu- 
lation, as  inferred  from  the  table  for  1916.  The  data  are  suggestive, 
but  not  sufficient  to  warrant  any  conclusions.  In  the  first  place,  the 
numerical  importance  of  the  various  causes  shows  a  greater  similarity 
for  the  negroes  and  whites  of  the  same  sex  than  for  husbands  and 
wives  of  the  same  color.  Indeed,  the  similarities  of  the  two  sets  of 
causes  among  the  negro  and  white  population  impress  the  casual 
reader  as  greater  than  the  dissimilarities.  If  the  chief  causes  are 
listed  in  order  of  their  numerical  importance  for  husbands  of  both 
color  and  for  wives  of  both  color  there  will  not  be  observed  any 
great  disparity  in  the  two  sets  of  causes.  Great  contributory  causes 
among  the  men  such  as  abusive  treatment,  abusive  language  and 
alcoholism  correspond  roughly  as  does  domestic  incompetency  among 
the  wives,  which  is  a  frequent  charge  of  the  men.  The  problem  of 
the  mother-in -law  does  not  seem  to  be  regarded  as  so  serious  a 
menace  to  the  domestic  happiness  of  the  colored  population  as  with 
the  white.      Other  men  and  other  women  are  given  as  causes  more 


Family  Desertion  and  Non-Support  309 

frequently  by  negroes  and  the  problem  of  the  illegitimate  child  is 
more  common.  Other  distinct  sex  factors  seem  to  play  as  small  a 
part  in  domestic  difficulties  among  the  negroes  as  among  the  white 
families. 

In  the  study  of  twelve  hundred  desertion  cases  in  both  1917  and 
1918  the  charges  of  the  men  and  the  charges  of  the  women  are  listed 
separarately.  These  are  divided  into  first,  second  and  third  causes. 
There  is  a  total  to  show  how  many  times  each  cause  is  mentioned. 
For  both  years  there  is  a  close  correspondence  in  the  two  sets  of 
causes.  The  charges  brought  by  the  wives  against  their  husbands  in 
the  two  years  may  be  listed  thus  in  order  of  their  numerical 
importance  as  follows: 

TABLE  XXXIII.     CHIEF  CHARGES  PREFERRED  BY  WIVES** 


1917 

1918 

1. 

Alcoholism 

1. 

Abusive   treatment 

2. 

Abusive  treatment 

2. 

Alcoholism 

3. 

Abusive   language 

3. 

Other    men   and   women 

4. 

Other  women 

4. 

Abusive   language 

5. 

Laziness 

5. 

Stinginess 

6. 

Quarreling 

6. 

Drugs 

7. 

Economic    incompetency 

7. 

Incompatibility 

8. 

In-laws 

8. 

Laziness 

9. 

Stinginess 

9. 

In-laws 

10. 

Gambling 

10. 

Gambling 

11. 

Incompatibility 

11. 

Religious  differences 

Although  the  order  of  numerical  importance  differs  somewhat,  the 
chief  causes  appear  in  both  lists  with  the  exception  of  two  factors  in 
each.  Abusive  treatment,  abusive  language,  alcoholism  and  other 
women  head  the  lists. 

Turning  next  to  the  causes  of  domestic  difficulties  as  seen  by  the 

husbands  themselves,  the  story  assumes  a  somewhat  different  form. 

The  charges  most  frequently  given  by  the  men  against  their  wives 

appear  in  the  following  order  for  the  two  years. 

TABLE  XXXIV.     CHIEF  COUNTER  CHARGES  PREFERRED  BY 

HUSBANDS^ 

1917  1918 

1.  In-laws  1.  Other  men  and  women 

2.  Other   men  2.  In-laws 

3.  Quarreling  and  nagging  3.  Drugs 

4.  Domestic    incompetency  4.  Economic    and    domestic 

5.  Alcoholism  incompetency 

6.  Abusive  language  5.  Alcoholism 

7.  Incompatibility  6.  Religious    differences 

8.  Adultery  7.  Step  and  illegitimate  children 

9.  Extravagance                                        8.  Abusive    language 
10.     Jealousy                                                  9.  Extravagance 

10.  Incompatibility 


21.  See  Annual  Report  for  1917,  p.  86,  and  for  1918,  p. 

22.  Annual  Report  for  1917,  p.  87,  and  for  1918,  p.  99. 


310  The  Journal  of  Delinquency 

There  will  be  seen  a  close  correspondence  for  the  two  years  in  the 
causes  of  domestic  difficulties  as  seen  by  the  husbands,  although  the 
correlation  is  not  so  close  as  in  that  given  by  the  wives.  A  number 
of  the  charges  made  by  wives  reappear  as  counter  charges  made  by 
husbands.  Thus,  alcoholism  is  present  although  it  takes  a  lower 
place  in  the  list  of  factors.  Although  abusive  treatment  is  missing, 
abusive  language  is  present.  Tongue  lashing  apparently  takes  the 
place  of  physical  abuse.  The  same  blanket  term  of  incompatibility 
appears  with  men  as  with  women.  The  laziness  and  economic  incom- 
petency of  the  husbands  is  paralleled  by  the  domestic  incompetency 
of  the  wives.  The  factor  of  parents-in-law  appears  in  both  the 
charges  of  the  men  and  women,  but  it  occupies  a  more  important 
place  in  the  former.  Other  men  as  a  factor  take  a  higher  place  in 
the  list  of  charges  brought  by  men  than  other  women  does  in  the 
list  of  charges  brought  by  wives  against  their  husbands.  This  prob- 
ably does  not  mean  that  sexual  offenses  are  more  common  upon  the 
part  of  wives  than  upon  the  part  of  husbands,  but  rather  that  they 
are  regarded  as  more  serious.  A  gain,  the  mere  prepontlerance  of  oth- 
er charges  brought  by  wives  may  often  be  sufficient  to  push  this  charge 
into  the  background.  Finally,  the  dual  standard  of  morality  must  be 
considered. 

A  study  of  the  causal  factors  in  the  first  twelve  hundred  cases  in 
the  Domestic  Relations  Court  in  1919  shows  the  following  charges 
mentioned  the  following  number  of  times  by  the  wives  and  husbands: 

Abusive    treatment 441 

—  Alcoholism 370 

Desertion 307 

~  Other  women 260 

^Incompatibility 179 

Abusive    language 139 

Bad    company 106 

In-laws 96 

Gambling 74 

Money  quarrels 53 

Jealousy 34 

Stinginess 33 

"—Venereal   diseases 27 

Neglect 26 

Mental  peculiarities 21 

Refusal  to  make  a  home 20 

— Sex    excess 17 

Neglect  or  abuse  of  children.... 16 

Step  or  illegitimate  children 13 

—  Sex    perversion 5 

Economic   or    domestic    incompetence 3 

Refused  intercourse 2 

Extravagance  1 


Tamily  Desertion  and  Non-Support  Sll 

VII.     TYPES  OF  DESERTERS 

.  Numerous  attempts  have  been  made  to  classify  deserters  into  va- 
Tious  types.  Such  classifications,  like  those  of  causes,  are  somewhat 
arbitrary.  Nevertheless,  they  shed  some  light  upon  the  factors  at 
work  in  creating  the  problem  which  desertion  presents.  The  Phila- 
delphia Society  for  Organizing  Charity  in  its  annual  report  for  1902 
recognized  five  principal  types  of  deserters,  as  follows, — the  chronic 
deserter,  the  reclaimable  deserter,  the  spurious  deserter,  the  half- ex- 
cusable deserter  and  finally  what  was  termad  the  un-get-at-able  de* 
serter.  It  attempted  to  show  how  the  desertion  habit  could  be  form- 
ed gradually  after  several  ofi^enses.  Social  workers  are  not  surprised 
to  find  upon  the  investigation  of  a  given  case,  which  has  just  been 
reported,  that  desertion  had  occured  upon  a  number  of  previous  oc- 
casions. On  the  other  hand,  the  desertion  may  be  the  result  of  a 
certain  quarrel  or  of  a  series  of  misfortunes.  In  the  case  of  families 
seeking  aid,  desertion  may  often  be  feigned  in  order  to  secure  char- 
ity. The  wife  and  family  may  be  responsible  parties  in  an  attempt 
of  the  husband  to  shift  his  financial  responsibilities  upon  the  com- 
munity. The  existence  of  this  type  of  desertion  necessitates  careful 
case  study  upon  the  part  of  the  social  worker.  Our  review  of  the  in- 
dividual causes  of  desertion  attempted  to  show  that  frequently  the 
blame  for  the  broken  home  must  be  shared  by  both  the  husband  and 
the  wife.  When  the  report  speaks  of  "half -excusable' '  deserters,  it 
has  reference  to  the  wives'  sins  of  ommission  or  of  commission.  The 
^'un-get-at-able"  deserter  is  an  illustration  of  the  diflficulty  of  appre- 
hending the  deserter  or  of  enforcing  the  order  which  the  court  has 
seen  fit  to  grant. 

Perhaps  a  more  workable  classification  has  been  made  by  E.  E. 
Eubank  in  his  study  of  desertion  in  Chicago.  This  also  is  five- fold,  as 
follows:  the  spurious  deserter,  the  gradual  deserter,  the  * 'intermittent 
husband,"  the  ill-advised  marriage  type  and  the  "last  resort"  type^ 
In  his  discussion  of  the  gradual  deserter  type,  Eubank  points  out  that 
desertion  is  by  no  means  always  intentional.  Marital  happiness  does 
not  frequently  snap  suddenly.  The  husband  and  wife  are  more  apt 
to  gradually  drift  apart.  Frequently  the  causes  are  to  be  found  in 
our  economic  or  social  environment.  Seasonal  labor,  the  demand  for 
the  casual  laborer  and  the  existence  of  the  so-called  labor  reserve 
have  social  effects  upon  the  family  life  as  well  as  economic  effects 
upon  unemployment.  Unemployment  may  not  be  a  direct  cause  of 
desertion,  but  it  may  lead  to  a  search  for  new  employment,  during 


312  The  Journal  of  Delinquency 

which  time  the  husband  may  drift  far  from  his  family  moorings. 
We  have  spoken  of  influence  of  the  war  in  attracting  to  Philadelphia 
mobile  labor  of  all  sorts.  To  what  extent  industrial  migrations  un- 
settle family  life,  we  do  not  know.  Every  spring  and  summer  itin- 
erant laborers  of  Philadelphia  go  out  into  the  truck  fields  of  the  sur- 
rounding country.  Although  we  claim  no  causal  connection,  it  will 
be  remembered  that  in  the  two  years  studied,  desertion  rates  in- 
creased in  the  spring  and  summer.  Immigration  as  well  as  economic 
causes  may  produce  the  gradual  deserter.  Although  we  failed  to  find 
that  our  immigrants  furnished  an  unduly  high  proportion  of  cases 
for  the  Domestic  Relations  Court,  this  is  not  the  entire  story.  Euro- 
pean countries  face  a  severe  problem  of  family  desertion  caused  by 
foreign  immigration.  J.  M.  Motion  in  Wife  and  Family  Desertion: 
Emigration  as  a  Contributory  Cause,  states  that  for  the  year  ending 
May  15,  1912,  there  were  three  hundred  and  forty  (340)  cases  of 
colonial  desertion.  In  one  hundred  and  twenty-four  (124)  of  the 
cases  which  were  investigted,  the  wives  had  knowledge  beforehand 
of  the  emigration  which  gradually  and  perhaps  at  first  unintentionally 
developed  into  desertion.  The  intermittent  husband,  so  called  by  Mr. 
Eubank,  is  the  one  who  deserts  and  returns  only  to  desert  and  return 
again.  This  type  presents  a  peculiarly  difficult  problem  to  the  social 
worker.  It  is  believed  that  the  so-called  temperamental  causes  fig- 
ure very  highly  in  this  type  of  deserter.  We  saw  in  a  very  early  portion 
of  this  study  that  about  half  of  the  cases  in  the  Domestic  Re- 
lations Court  were  not  new  but  recurrent.  The  ill-advised  marriage 
type  is  reflected  in  divorce  as  well  as  in  desertion.  It  is  not  part  of 
our  purpose  to  discuss  marriage  laws,  but  the  importance  of  the 
matter  must  be  mentioned.  We  have  seen  some  results  of  hasty 
marriages  in  the  table  showing  the  length  of  acquaintanceship  before 
marriage  in  a  number  of  cases  in  the  Philadelphia  Court  of  Domestic 
Relations.  The  relationship  of  forced  marriages  to  the  subject  of 
desertion  has  also  been  discussed.  By  the  expression  "last  resort" 
desertion,  Eubank  has  in  mind  the  desertions  of  the  husbands  caused 
by  the  bad  conduct  or  the  vicious  habits  of  the  wives. 

No  attempt  will  be  made  to  construct  another  classification  of 
types  of  deserters.  However,  it  may  be  well  to  stress  the  distinc- 
tion between  the  reclaimable  and  the  irreclaimable  deserter,  although 
the  two  types  gradually  fade  into  each  other.  Under  the  first  type 
we  would  include  the  cases  where  reconciliation  is  possible  and  where 
the  restoration  of  the  husband  to  the  wife  and  family  is  regarded  as 


Family  Desertion  and  Non-Support  313 

desirable.  Perhaps  there  may  be  some  analogy  in  the  distinctior  be- 
tween the  occasional  and  the  habitual  criminal.  In  conclusion,  there 
must  be  mentioned  the  type  represented  by  the  non-supporting  hus- 
band who  is  living  with  his  family  although  out  of  harmony  with  it. 
He  is  often  a  potential  or  an  incipient  deserter.  Although  there  is  an 
absence  of  actual  desertion  the  same  set  of  causes  are  frequently  at 
work  undermining  domestic  happiness.  On  the  other  extreme  is  the 
deserting  husband  who  nevertheless  is  supporting  his  wife  and  fam- 
ily. 

VIII.     THE  DEVELOPMENT  OP  THE  LEGAL  MACHINERY 

Under  the  common  law  it  was  the  duty  of  a  husband  to  support  his 
wife  and  children.  This  was  insufficient  because  there  were  no 
means  of  enforcing  such  obligations  without  going  into  the  courts. 
Hence,  it  was  impossible  for  a  wife  to  sue  her  husband,  or  children 
their  father  except  indirectly  through  some  friend  or  guardian. 
Where  the  wife  or  children  were  forced  to  purchase  the  necessities 
of  life  from  some  third  person,  the  latter  could  sue  the  husband  and 
recover.  Thus,  we  may  say  that  while  the  common  law  recognized 
the  obligation  of  the  husbands,  it  provided  no  direct  method  of  com- 
peUing  support.  Hence,  desertion  and  non-support  have  been  made 
offenses,  punishable  by  law  in  all  the  states  of  the  Union.  The  vari- 
ous statutes  of  the  state  of  Pennsylvania  provide  legal  machinery 
whose  scope  and  character  are  well  in  advance  of  that  possessed  by 
the  majority  of  the  other  commonwealths.  The  interpretation  of  the 
courts  has  been  likewise  broad  and  comparatively  untechnical. 

In  attempting  to  sketch  the  evolution  of  the  system  in  Pennsylvania 
the  logical  starting  point  is  found  in  the  Poor  Law  of  1836.  This 
provided  that  if  the  deserted  families  became  a  charge  upon  the 
community  the  overseers  of  the  poor  should  make  complaint  before 
any  magistrate,  who  could  issue  a  warrant  authorizing  them  to  seize 
as  much  of  the  personal  property  of  the  deserter  as  the  magistrate 
should  deem  sufficient.  If  there  was  insufficient  property  the  desert- 
er was  to  be  arrested.  The  trial  was  one  of  criminal  law  in  the  regu- 
lar Courts  of  Quarter  Sessions.  The  judge  could  make  an  order 
of  support  and  authorize  the  overseers  to  sell  the  property  which 
they  seized,  or  in  the  absence  of  property  could  commit  the  defendant 
to  jail.  The  unfortunate  feature  of  this  act  was  that  it  placed  the 
initiative  upon  the  overseers  of  the  poor.  Moreover,  proof  of  no 
property  was  required  before  an  arrest  could  be  made. 


314  The  Journal  of  Delinquenctf 

These  sections  of  the  general  Poor  Law  have  been  supplemented 
and  supplanted  by  later  special  acts  upon  desertion  and  non-support. 
In  April,  1867  a  special  act  was  passed  by  the  legislature  for  the 
relief  of  wives  and  children,  deserted  by  their  husbands  and  father* 
within  the  commonwealth.  The  broad  scope  and  powers  of  this 
pioneer  statute  in  Pennsylvania  may  be  seen  from  the  following 
excerpts: 

That  in  addition  to  the  remedies  now  provided  by  law,  if  any  husband,  or 
father,  being  within  the  limits  of  this  commonwealth,  has,  or  hereafter  shall 
separate  himself  from  his  wife,  or  from  his  children,  or  from  his  wife  and 
children,  without  reasonable  cause,  or  shall  neglect  to  maintain  his  wife  or 
children,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  any  alderman,  justice  of  the  peace,  or  magis- 
trate of  this  commonwealth,  upon  information  made  before  him  under  oath,  or 
affirmation,  by  his  wife,  or  children,  or  either  of  them,  or  by  any  other  person, 
or  persons,  to  issue  his  warrant  to  the  sheriff,  or  to  any  constable,  for  the 
arrest  of  the  person  against  whom  the  information  shall  be  made,  as  afore- 
said, and  bind  him  over,  with  one  sufficient  surety,  to  appear  at  the  next  court 

of  quarter  sessions,  there  to  answer  the  said  charge  of  desertion 

.  .  It  shall  be  lawful  for  said  court,  after  hearing,  to  order  the  person 
against  whom  the  complaint  has  been  made,  being  of  sufficient  ability,  to 
pay  such  sum  as  said  court  shall  think  reasonable  and  proper,  for  the  com- 
fortable support  and  maintenance  of  said  wife,  or  children,  or  both,  not 
exceeding  one  hundred  dollars  per  month,  and  to  commit  such  person  to  the 
county  prison,  there  to  remain  until  he  comply  with  such  order,  or  give  se- 
curity, by  one,  or  more,  sureties  to  the  commonwealth,  and  in  such  sum  aa 
the  court  shall  direct,  for  the  compliance  therewith. 

It  was  further  provided  that 

all  proceedings  shall  be  in  the  name  of  the  commonwealth:  and  that  any  wife, 
so  deserted,  shall  be  a  competent  witness  on  the  part  of  the  commonwealth, 
and  the  husband  shall  also  be  a  competent  witness. 

The  basic  statute  has  been  supplemented  and  amplified  by  numer- 
ous later  acts  of  the  legislature.  An  act  of  March  13,  1903  made  it  a 
misdemeanor  for  a  husband  or  father  to  desert  and  neglect  to  sup- 
port his  wife  and  children,  punishable  by  imprisonment  not  to  exceed 
one  year,  or  a  fine  not  to  exceed  one  hundred  dollars  or  both.  The 
latter  was  to  be  applied  in  whole  or  in  part  as  a  payment  to  the  wife 
and  children,  but  in  no  way  to  affect  any  existing  order  of  the  court 
for  support.  Court  orders  have  generally  been  made  in  lieu  of  the 
criminal  penalty,  which  was  later  permitted  to  take  the  form  of  a 
suspended  sentence.  For  the  purposes  of  this  act  children  were  de- 
fined as  those  under  sixteen,  except  in  the  case  of  the  crippled  and 
infirm  where  the  age  limit  was  extended  to  twenty-one  years.  More- 
over, separation  was  defined  as  including  "every  case  where  a  hus- 
band had  caused  his  wife  to  leave  him  by  conduct  upon  his  part 
which  would  be  ground  for  divorce/'  This  was  for  the  protection  of 
those  women  who  were  forced  to  leave  their  husbands,  although  the 


Family  Desertion  and  Non-Support  315 

latter  could  not  be  found  technically  guilty  of  desertion  or  non-sup- 
port. In  spite  of  the  various  acts  which  were  passed  the  courts  con- 
tinued to  have  difficulty  in  enforcing  their  orders,  although  they 
might  send  to  jail  the  non-supporting  husbands.  The  legislation  at- 
tempted to  meet  this  situation  by  an  act  passed  in  June,  1913.  Un- 
der this  law  a  man  who  cannot  or  does  not  pay  the  court  order  can  be 
committed  at  hard  labor  in  some  penal  institution,  which  institution 
shall  pay  for  his  labor  the  sum  of  sixty-five  cents  a  day  for  the  sup- 
port of  his  wife  and  family.  The  courts,  however,  have  used  very 
conservatively  this  power. 

The  above  laws  have  made  desertion  and  non-support  a  criminal  of- 
fense and  have  provided  the  legal  machinery  by  which  the  common- 
wealth can  proceed  against  fathers  and  husbands  in  the  interests  of 
their  families  and  the  general  public.  There  are  also  laws  upon  the 
statute  books  of  Pennsylvania  which  give  to  deserted  wives  the  right 
of  civil  suit  for  maintenance.  If  the  husband  can  be  located  she  may 
proceed  against  his  property.  The  wording  of  the  law,  however,  is 
rather  ambiguous,  and  its  uncertainty  has  been  increased  by  several 
court  decisions.  Neither  the  law  nor  the  legal  machinery  in  civil 
procedure  is  as  adequate  in  the  matter  of  desertion  and  non-support 
as  in  the  criminal  procedure.  This  is  but  natural  in  view  of  the  so- 
cial and  economic  groups  which  are  largely  aifected  by  this  social  prob- 
lem. Again,  the  matter  of  civil  procedure  seems  rather  unimportant 
when  we  recall  how  insignificant  is  the  amount  of  attachable  proper- 
ty in  the  case  of  deserters.  For  those  in  more  fortunate  pecuniary 
circumstances  there  is  the  opportunity  of  divorce  or  legal  separation, 
which  may  be  accompanied  by  alimony. 

A  great  land  mark  in  the  local  history  of  the  legal  attempt  to  cope 
with  the  problem  of  desertion  and  non-support  was  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Municipal  Court  of  Philadelphia.  This  was  done  by  an 
act  of  legislature  upon  July  12,  1913  which  provided  that  the  court 
consist  of  a  president  judge  and  an  associate  judge  for  each  two 
hundred  thousand  of  the  population  or  fraction  thereof,  elected  by 
popular  vote.  The  court  is  divided  into  five  great  divisions — the 
Civil  Division,  the  Criminal  Division,  the  Misdemeanants  Division, 
the  Juvenile  Division  and  the  Domestic  Relations  Division.  This  act 
transferred  from  the  Court  of  Quarter  Sessions  to  the  Domestic  Re- 
lations Division  of  the  Municipal  Court  cases  of  desertion  and  non- 
support.     The  act  expressly  states  that 

The  jurisdiction  of  the  said  Municipal  court  shall  be  exclusive   (a)  in  all 


316  The  Journal  of  Delinquency 

proceedings  brought  against  any  husband  or  father,  wherein  it  is  charged 
that  he  has  without  reasonable  cause  separated  himself  from  his  wife  or 
children,  or  from  both,  or  has  neglected  or  shall  neglect  to  maintain  his  wife 
or  children;  and  in  all  proceedings  where  any  child  of  full  age  has  neglected 
or  shall  neglect  to  maintain  his  or  her  parents,  not  able  to  work  or  of  sufficient 
ability  to  maintain  themselves;  and  in  all  proceedings  for  the  custody  of 
children. 

One  of  the  fundamental  features  of  a  municipal  court  is  the 
probation  system.  The  above  law,  as  amended  by  the  Act  of  June 
15,  1915,  provides  that 

The  president  judge  shall  appoint  a  chief  probation  officer  ....  and 
such  additional  probation  officers  and  employes  as  he  may  determine. 

IX.     THE  MACHINERY  IN  OPERATION 

The  earlier  attitude  toward  the  problem  of  desertion  and  non- 
support  was  that  of  court  intervention.  Perhaps  it  may  be  charac- 
terized as  the  strictly  disciplinary  attitude.  Scientific  or  organized 
charity  was  loath  to  give  much  material  assistance  to  the  deserted 
wife.  She  was  urged  to  bring  the  recalcitrant  husband  before  the 
judge  or  magistrate  in  order  that  he  be  compelled  if  possible  to 
resume  the  support  of  his  family.  It  finally  became  apparent,  how- 
ever, that  such  a  step  was  frequently  the  last  blow  to  an  already 
disintegrating  family  life.  The  concept  of  family  rehabilitation  as  a 
function  of  the  court  began  to  develop.  Moreover,  the  causes  of 
desertion  were  found  to  be  far  from  simple.  Such  early  studies  as 
have  been  mentioned  bepran  to  have  their  fruit  m  a  change  of  attitude. 
It  was  realized  that  desertion  did  not  just  happen,  but  was  a  problem 
of  social  causation.  As  with  divorce  it  represented  a  phenomenon  of 
the  modern  family  passing  through  a  period  of  adjustment.  The 
assumption  that  all  deserters  were  unsocial  individuals  went  the  way 
of  some  older  theories  of  crime.  Finally,  the  case  system  of  modern 
organized  charity  showed  the  necessity  for  a  careful  investigation  of 
each  family  and  a  scientific  analysis  of  the  problems  presented.  Out 
of  such  a  situation  the  probation  system  developed.  Its  juriadiction 
was  extended  from  juvenile  offenders  to  domestic  relations.  The 
municipal  court  idea  expanded  as  it  spread.  The  social  efficiency  of 
these  specialized  courts  of  justice  depend  largely  upon  the  success  or 
failure  of  the  probation  departments.  The  success  of  some  early 
courts  like  that  ol  Judge  Lindsey  centered  around  the  dynamic  person- 
ality of  the  judge.  With  the  development  of  the  municipal  court 
idea,  however,  the  center  of  gravity  has  largely  shifted  from  the  judge 
to  the  probation  officer.     Municipal  court  judges,  who  passupon  the 


Family  Desertion  and  Non-Support  317 

problems  of  domestic  relations  or  upon  juvenile  offenders,  should  not 
only  be  legal  specialists  in  their  respective  fields,  but  also  men  with  a 
knowledge  of  sociology.  Consequently,  there  has  developed  a 
differentiation  of  function  between  the  judge  and  the  social  workers 
of  the  court.  Although  the  judg*^  is  the  reponsible  person  for  the 
decisions  made  in  his  court,  such  decisions  are  largely  conditioned  by 
the  data  prepared  by  the  probation  officers  and  other  social  workers. 
An  important  feature  of  the  Domestic  Relations  Division  of  the  Phila- 
delphia Municipal  Court  is  the  emphasis  placed  upon  the  probation 
department.  The  local  probation  officers  do  more  than  the  investiga- 
tion and  supervision  of  cases.  The  decisions  are  frequently  left  in 
their  hands.  This  unique  feature  may  be  read  in  the  number  of 
adjustments  which  are  made  without  court  trial  by  the  probation 
officers  in  conference  with  the  husbands  and  wives.  Reconciliation 
is  often  impossible,  but  the  aim  is  to  reach  a  voluntary  agreement  in 
this  informal  manner. 

Before  the  Philadelphia  Municipal  Court  was  established  in  1914 
the  deserting  husband  was  arrested  upon  the  complaint  of  his  wife, 
who  had  secured  a  warrant  from  some  magistrate.  The  husband  was 
placed  under  arrest  and  lodged  in  the  county  prison  in  default  of  bail 
It  was  frequently  a  week  or  two  after  commitment  before  the  case. 
was  called  for  trial.  Such  a  situation  tended  to  embitter  the  husband. 
It  frequently  meant  not  only  loss  of  employment,  but  also  made  re- 
conciliation more  difficult  if  not  impossible.  Before  the  creation  of 
the  Philadelphia  Municipal  Court,  desertion  and  non-support  cases 
were  tried  in  the  Court  of  Quarter  Sessions,  which  devoted  one  day 
each  week  to  their  consideration.  An  already  crowded  docket  made 
justice  slow.  Moreover,  in  the  absence  of  any  probation  department 
there  was  no  source  of  reliable  information  upon  which  to  base  a  de- 
cision. With  the  establishment  of  the  Municipal  Court  in  1914  and 
its  emphasis  upon  the  probation  system,  the  process  of  handling  de- 
sertion and  non-support  cases  was  considerably  altered.  The  present 
procedure  in  brief  is  as  follows:  The  first  appeal  to  the  court  is  gen- 
erally made  by  the  wife  hereself,  although  there  are  rare  cases  in 
which  the  appeal  is  made  by  the  husbands  in  the  behalf  of  the  chil- 
dren of  deserting  wives.  The  complaintant  is  met  by  an  officer  of 
the  court,  furnished  with  an  identification  card  and  assigned  to  a 
woman  interviewer.  Here  she  tells  her  story  in  an  informal  way  to 
the  probation  officer.  A  full  and  frank  discussion  is  encouraged  and 
a  record  made  of  the  facts  as  related  by  the  wife.      Except  in  rare 


318  The  Journal  of  Delinquency 

cases,  where  physical  violence  is  possible,  no  summons  is  issued. 
Instead,  the  probation  department  merely  sends  a  letter  to  the  hus- 
band. An  attempt  is  made  to  have  him  call  at  a  time  which  is  not 
detrimental  to  his  work.  If  no  answer  is  received  a  second  letter  is 
sent.  The  probation  department  holds  that  it  is  better  to  incur  the 
risk  of  having  the  husband  run  off  than  to  embitter  the  proceedings 
by  issuing  a  warrant  unnecessarily.  If  there  is  no  reply  to  the  third 
letter  a  legal  summons  is  issued.  When  the  defendant  calls  he  is 
generally  met  by  the  same  interviewer  who  heard  his  wife's  story. 
The  same  informal  conference  takes  place  between  the  husband  and 
probation  officer.  A  record  of  the  facts  is  made  as  presented  by  the 
husband,  which  may  be  very  different  from  the  story  related  by  the 
wife.  If  there  is  a  serious  conflict  in  the  two  versions,  field  workers 
are  called  upon  to  make  additional  first  hand  investigation.  The 
third  step  is  a  conference  between  husband  and  wife  in  the  presence 
of  the  probation  officer.  This  is  the  critical  stage,  for  here  a  definite 
decision  is  reached.  Any  one  of  three  things  may  happen.  The  cou- 
ple may  become  reconciled  and  decide  to  start  married  life  together 
afresh.  A  frank  discussion  before  some  impartial  and  sympathetic 
third  person  with  some  possible  good  advice  may  be  sufficient.  Al- 
though the  judge  may  bring  the  man  and  wife  together,  reconciliat- 
ions are  generally  effected  by  the  probation  officer  in  this  early  stage. 
Reconciliation,  however,  may  be  impossible.  Moreover,  a  study  of 
the  facts  in  the  case  may  be  sufficient  to  convince  the  probation  offi- 
cer that  permanent  reconciliation  is  not  only  unlikely  but  also  undesir- 
able. A  separation  agreement  may  be  reached  voluntarily  in  this 
conference  and  the  case  may  not  go  into  court  at  all.  If  the  husband 
and  wife  can  agree  upon  a  fair  sum,  proportionate  to  the  husband's 
earning  capacity,  to  be  paid  by  him  for  the  support  of  his  wife  and 
children  the  affair  may  be  settled  there.  The  parties  are  taken  to 
the  office  of  the  County  Clerk,  where  the  complaintant  petitions  the 
Court  to  confirm  the  agreement  and  the  defendant  signs  a  bond  for 
his  appearance  in  case  of  failure  to  abide  by  the  sum  required  to  be 
paid.  The  case  does  not  have  a  court  trial,  although  the  signature 
of  the  judge  is  necessary  in  order  to  make  the  agreement  a  decree  of 
the  court.  Such  a  voluntary  agreement  outside  the  court  is  known 
as  an  adjustment  and  is  as  legally  binding  as  an  order  of  the  judge. 
Publicity  is  avoided  and  the  way  left  open  for  a  possible  reconcilia- 
tion. Moreover,  it  seems  desirable  that  the  matter  should  be  settled 
by  the  probation  officer,  if  the  latter  is  a  trained  social  worker,  rath- 


Family  Desertion  and  Non-Support  S19 

«r  than  by  the  judge  who  is  a  legal  expert.  Finally,  there  is  more 
hope  of  the  agreement  being  kept  when  it  is  more  voluntary  than  a 
court  order.  If  an  adjustment  without  court  trial  is  impossible  a  le- 
gal summons  is  issued  which  brings  the  case  before  the  judge.  Even 
here  the  probation  department  has  made  an  analysis  of  the  case  be- 
fore it  comes  into  court.  The  charges  and  counter  charges  are  in- 
vestigated as  well  as  the  husband's  earnings.  The  decision  of  the 
judge  may  be  any  one  of  th«  following:  The  petition  may  be  dis- 
missed if  important  charges  of  the  husband  can  be  proven  and  the 
demand  for  support  seems  unjust.  The  case  may  be  continued  for  fur- 
ther investigation  or  for  some  such  other  reason  as  the  non-appear- 
ance of  the  defendent.  The  third  possibility  is  definite  order  of 
the  court  upon  the  man  for  the  support  of  his  wife  and  children. 
There  is  a  department  of  accounts  and  the  orders  are  payable  week- 
ly, semi-monthly  or  monthly  at  the  Municipal  Court.  For  the  con- 
venience of  the  men  concerned  the  office  is  kept  open  Friday  even- 
ings. Although  the  money  is  generally  forwarded  to  the  beneficiary 
through  the  court,  it  is  possible  to  file  a  petition  for  the  man  to  pay 
directly.  It  may  also  be  mentioned  that  the  court  maintains  an  em- 
ployment bureau  to  help  the  man  out  of  work  to  find  employment. 
There  is  a  medical  department,  which,  however,  exists  chiefly  for 
purposes  of  examination.  Those  requiring  extended  medical  treat- 
ment are  referred  to  hospitals.  Connection  is  maintained  by  the 
probation  department  of  the  Municipal  Court  with  the  social  service 
departments  of  the  various  city  hospitals  and  dispensaries.  Relief 
cases  are  turned  over  to  the  Society  for  Organizing  Charity.  More 
or  less  close  connection  is  maintained  with  the  other  social  agencies 
of  the  city.  Domestic  Relations  Court  cases  are  registered  at  the 
Social  Service  Exchange  of  Philadelphia. 

The  important  part  which  the  probation  department  plays  in  >  e 
matter  of  desertion  and  non-support  may  be  seen  in  the  large  prop- 
ortion of  cases  which  are  settled  without  court  trial.  Thus,  in  1916 
there  were  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  one  (1,701)  support 
orders  granted,  but  only  nine  hundred  and  twelve  (912)  representing 
fifty-four  per  cent  (54%)  were  fixed  by  the  judge.  In  1917  out  of 
one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventeen  (1,717)  new  orders,  seven 
hundred  and  twenty-seven  (727)  or  forty-two  per  cent  (42%)  were 
reached  by  adjustment  without  court  trial.  In  1918  out  of  one 
thousand  four  hundred  and  thirty-one  (1,431)  new  orders,  five 
hundred  and  twenty -three    (523)  or    thirty-seven  per  cent  (37%) 


320  The  Journal  of  Delinquency 

were  reached  by  adjustment.  In  1919  there  were  one  thousand  one 
hundred  and  forty-two  (1,142)  new  orders  issued  by  the  court  in 
contrast  to  eight  hundred  and  forty-five  (845)  reached  by  voluntary 
agreement,  representing  forty-two  per  cent  (42%)  of  the  total.  Dur- 
ing the  year  1920,  of  the  non-support  cases  involving  families  brought 
to  the  attention  of  the  court  for  the  first  time  and  disposed  of  in  the 
same  year  three-fourths  were  adjusted  without  court  hearing. 

The  character  of  the  court  disposition  of  cases  may  be  seen  from 
the  following  summaries  for  1916,  1917  and  1918: 

TABLE    XXXV.     COURT    DISPOSITIONS'' 

1916  1917  1918 

Court   dispositions 6,140  7,127  5,036 

New  orders 1,701  1,717  1,431 

By    court 912  990  908 

By    aggreement 789  727  523 

Changes  made  in  previous  orders 153  180  262 

Orders     vacated 491  380  115 

Old  orders  suspended 7  57  81 

Arrears  remitted 410  260  247 

Micellaneous    petitions    allowed 82  61  178 

Petitions    dismissed 462  258  260 

Petitions   continued 2,375  3,-878  1,763 

Defendant  committed  or  held 220  391  582 

It  is  interesting  to  note  in  the  three  years  described  above  the  great 

TABLE  XXXVL     DISPOSITION  OF  CASES  IN  1919^ 

All  classes  Non-support 

of  cases  cases  only 

Cases  listed  for   Court 6,180  6,062 

Court    hearings 4,732  4,501 

Cases    disposed    of 4,108  3,860 

New    orders 1,987  1,831 

(By  Court) (1,142)  (1,060) 

(By    agreement) (845)  (771) 

Old  orders  changed 351  341 

( Increased ) ( 243 )  ( 237 ) 

( Decreased ) ( 108 )  ( 104 ) 

Old    orders    suspended 30  23 

Old   orders  reinstated 106  102 

Old  orders  vacated 195  197 

Arrears    remitted 344  327 

Petition  to  credit  allowed 33  31 

Beneficiary  changed 39  37 

Miscellaneous    petitions    allowed 156  154 

Petitions    dismissed 451  456 

Petitions    withdrawn 231  227 

Defendants  committed 185  184 

Placed    upon    probation 1,168  1,120 

Bench    warrants 43  42 

Bench    warrants    no    answer 133  124 

number  of  petitions  continued.     In  1917  the  total   number  of  such 

23]     Annual  Report  for  1916,  p.  170  for  1917,  p.  45,  and  for  1918,  p.  46. 
24.    Annual  Report  of  Municipal  Court  for  1919,  p.  42. 


Family  Desertion  and  Non-Support  321 

cases  was  over  three  thousand,  in  1916  almost  three  thousand  and  in 
1918  almost  two  thousand.  The  record  for  1919  also  shows  a  great 
proportion  of  cases  not  settled.  It  also  illustrates  how  large  a  prop- 
ortion of  all  the  cases  in  the  Court  of  Domestic  Relations  are  those  of 
desertion  and  non-support. 

The  cases  disposed  of  at  court  hearings  in  1920  numbered  three 
thousand  two  hundred  and  ninety-four  (3,294).  There  were  one  thou- 
sand seven  hundred  and  seventy-four  (1,774)  continuances.  The  fol- 
lowing is  a  summary  of  the  dispositions  of  these  court  cases. 

TABLE    XXXVII.     COURT    DISPOSITIONS    IN    1920^ 

Petitions    dismissed 430 

Attachments  dismissed 2 

Writ  of  habeaus  corpus  dismissed 9 

Warrant  of  seizure  dismissed,  no  funds 18 

Orders  made 1,013 

Orders    increased 231 

Orders    reduced 125 

Orders    suspended 28 

Orders    reinstated 66 

Orders  vacated 173 

Beneficiary    changed 145 

Arrears  remitted 239 

Part   arrears   remitted 86 

All  arrears  paid  in  court 75 

Part  arrears  paid  in  court 317 

Arrears  ordered  to  be  paid  upon  a 

specified  date 36 

Specified  amount  of  arrears  ordered  to  be  paid  upon  a 

specified  date 117 

Arrears  ordered  to  be  paid  in  installments 626 

Habeas  corpus  petitions  granted 41 

Habeas  corpus  petitions  granted  in  part 16 

Habeas    corpus    petitions    not    granted 21 

Committed    to    county    prison 75 

Committed  to  House  of  Correction 85 

Returned   to   County   prison 4 

Returned  to  House  of  Correction 5 

Discharged  from  County  prison  2 

Committed  to  County  prison  or  House  of  Correc- 
tion, but  released  same  day  upon  payment 
of  part  arrears  and  agreement  to  pay 

balance 85 

Committed  to  psychopathic  ward,  Philadelphia 

General   Hospital 9 

Warrants    of    seizure    confirmed 69 

The  large  number  of  cases  carried  over  is  partly  due  to  a  crowded 
calendar  and  for  a  while  the  court  was  holding  evening  sessions  once 
a  week  in  order  to  catch  up  with  its  prog^-am.  Again,  the  very 
nature  of  the  probation  system  keeps  many  cases  from  an  immediate 
settlement.     For  many  families  an  extended  period  of  supervision  is 

25.    Annual  Report  for  1920,  p.  240. 


S22  The  Journal  of  Delinquency 

necessary.  The  recalcitrant  husband  must  be  carefully  watchedl 
The  small  number  of  commitments  and  the  large  number  of  arrear- 
age cases  listed  above  show^s  the  reluctance  of  the  court  to  use 
its  authority.  Every  effort  is  made  to  avoid  imprisonment  and  ta 
use  this  weapon  only  as  a  last  resort.  Even  after  a  voluntary  adjust- 
ment has  been  reached  or  court  order  fixed  the  work  of  the  proba- 
tion department  is  not  ended.  It  is  necessary  to  see  that  the  money 
is  paid  regularly  and  promptly.  A  default  in  payment  brings  the 
case  back  again  into  Court.  A  unique  feature  of  the  Philadelphia 
Court  of  Domestic  Relations  is  the  fact  that  these  orders  are  granted 
for  an  indefinite  period  of  time  and  not  for  a  certain  fixed  period. 
Hence,  the  opportunity  must  be  open  to  both  parties  to  appeal  at 
any  time  for  an  increase  or  decrease  in  the  amount  paid.  The  two 
determining  factors  regarding  the  amout  of  the  order  are  the  size 
of  the  family  and  the  wages  of  the  husband.  There  has  been  no 
attempt  made  to  standardize  the  relationship  between  these  twa 
factors.  Many  irregularities  and  apparent  injustice^  are  to  be  ex- 
plained in  terms  of  other  factors.  It  is  debatable  whether  standard- 
ization is  possible  for  these  two  chief  factors.  Careful  investigation 
by  an  efficient  probation  department  made  up  of  trained  social  workers 
is  far  more  desirable.  The  importance  of  the  probation  department 
is  apparent  to  any  visitor  in  the  Court  of  Domestic  Relations.  The 
rapidity  with  which  individual  cases  are  disposed  of  by  the  court  is 
to  be  explained  in  terms  of  previous  investigation  and  recommenda- 
tion by  the  probation  officer.  In  Philadelphia  the  emphasis  is  placed 
upon  the  probation  department  rather  than  upon  the  judge.  In  con- 
clusion, may  be  mentioned  the  attempt  of  the  court  to  get  the  man 
himself  voluntarily  to  fix  a  fair  sum  as  a  support  order  rather  than 
to  arbitrarily  impose  it  upon  him. 

Although  reconciliations  are  sometimes  effected  by  the  judge  in 
the  court  room  they  are  generally  accomplished,  if  at  all,  by  the  pro- 
bation officer  in  a  previous  conference.  Let  us  see  to  what  extent 
reconciliations  are  accomplished  and  then  to  what  extent  they  are 
permanent.  In  1916  one  thousand  and  two  (1,002)  cases  were  rec- 
onciled. In  1917  there  were  eight  hundred  and  two  (802),  in  1918 
eight  hundred  and  four  (804)  and  in  1919  one  thousand  and  sixteen 
(1,016)  reconciliations.  In  1920  there  were  seven  hundred  and  thirty- 
seven  (737)  couples  reconciled  without  a  court  hearing  and  thirty-two 
(32)  reconciled  by  the  judge  in  the  court  room.  It  would  seem  to 
be  a  conservative  estimate  to  say  that  reconciliations  were  effected  in 


Family  Desertion  and  Non-Support  823 

over  ten  per  cent  (10%)  of  the  cases  coming  into  the  court. 

In  1917  there  was  made  an  interesting  study  of  twelve  hundred 
cases  to  illustrate  court  action  according  to  nativity. 

TABLE  XXXVIII.     COURT  ACTION  ACCORDING  TO  NATIVITY 

Native  Foreign 

Total  White  Colored         Bom 

No.       %        No.     %  No.     %        No.     % 

Reconciliation  in  department    135       11         71       10  22       18        42       12 

Petition   and   order 90         8         65         9  4         3         19         5.2 

Agreement    84         7         63         9  9         7         12         3 

Petition    dismissed 84         7         56         8  5         4         23         7 

Court   action   pending 114         9         67         9  12         9         35       10 

Not  settled 563       47       306       43  59       49  197       56.1 

Arrearage  complaints 74         6         52         7  9         7         11         3.2 

Attachment   proceedings 56        5         38        5  3         3         15         4 

Reconciliations  were  effected  in  eleven  per  cent  (11%)  of  the  total 
number  of  cases  studied.  Among  the  native  white  the  proportion  of 
reconciliations  was  only  ten  per  cent  (10%)  or  slightly  under  the  rate 
for  the  entire  group.  With  the  foreign  born  the  percentage  was 
twelve  per  cent  (12%)  or  slightly  above  the  rate  for  the  entire  group 
studied.  In  the  case  of  the  colored  litigants  the  proportion  of  recon- 
ciliations effected  reached  the  high  water  mark  of  eighteen  per  cent 
(18%).  The  same  group  which  furnishes  a  high  proportion  of  cases 
to  the  Court  of  Domestic  Relations  also  shows  a  high  percentage  of 
reconciliations.  How  permanent  the  reconciliations  are  with  this 
rather  volatile  group  is  another  story.  Agreements  outside  the  court 
were  effected  in  seven  percent  (7%)  and  court  orders  gran  ted  in  eight 
per  cent  (8%)  of  the  total  number  of  cases  studied.  In  both  these 
matters  the  native  white  rate  was  sHghtly  higher,  being  nine  per 
cent  (9%)  in  each  case.  The  rate  for  the  colored  group  correspond- 
ed to  that  of  the  entire  group  in  the  matter  of  voluntary  agreements, 
but  fell  to  three  per  cent  (3%)  in  the  matter  of  court  orders.  In  the 
case  of  the  foreign  born  the  rate  in  both  cases  is  below  that  of  the 
entire  group.  Orders  were  granted  in  five  per  cent  (5%)  of  the 
cases  and  agreements  were  reached  in  three  per  cent  (3%)  of  the 
cases.  The  proportion  of  petition s  dismissed  was  seven  per  cent  (7  % ) 
for  all  groups,  eight  per  cent  (8%)  for  the  native  white  group,  four 
per  cent  (4%)  for  the  colored  group  and  seven  per  cent  (7%)  for  the 
foreign  born. 

If  we  take  the  same  table  and  use  only  the  first  four  classes  leaving 
out  cases  not  settled,  court  action  pending,  arrearage  complaints  and 

26.     Annual  Report  for  1917,  p.  89. 


324  The  Journal  of  Delinquency 

attachment  proceedings  very  nearly  the  same  contrasts  show  them- 
selves in  a  more  glaring  fashion. 

TABLE  XXXIX. 

Native  Foreign 

Total         White  Colored         Born 

No.       %      No.  %  No.     %       No.     % 

Reconciliation   in   department 135       35       71       28  22       55       42       43 

Petition  and  order 90       23       65       26  4       10       19       20 

Agreement    84       21       63       25  9       23       12       13 

Petition    dismissed 84      21       56       21  5       12       23       24 


Total   393     100     255     100       40     100       96     100 

To  determine  to  what  extent  court  reconciliations  were  effective  in 
permanently  reuniting  families  an  investigation  was  made  by  Miss 
Mary  Hendrickson  of  the  probation  department  for  the  year  1916. 
There  were  one  thousand  and  two  (1,002)  cases  listed  as  reconciled. 
Of  these  cases  on  file  one  hundred  and  ninety  (190)  had  come  back 
into  court  for  reconsideration.  The  remaining  eight  hundred  and 
twelve  (812)  families  were  investigated  from  six  to  eighteen  months 
after  the  case  was  closed.  This  single  investigation  took  the  entire 
time  of  one  worker  for  several  months.  Only  eighty-seven  (87) 
families  were  not  found  or  accounted  for.  In  one  hundred  and 
twenty  (120)  cases  the  couples  had  separated  although  the  cases  had 
not  come  back  into  the  Domestic  Relations  Court.  This  left  in  effect 
six  hundred  and  five  (605)  reconciliations  which  constituted  sixty- 
seven  per  cent  (67%)  of  the  cases  located.  This  merely  meant  that 
husband  and  wife  were  living  together  again,  possibly  in  fear  of  the 
court  or  possibly  because  of  the  children  concerned.  In  a  number  of 
cases,  however,  the  reconciliations  appeared  to  be  genuine  to  the 
probation  officer,  who  described  the  husband  and  wife  as  "living 
happily  together."  A  summary  of  the  results  of  the  inquiry  is  as 
follows: 

TABLE    XL.     PERMANENCY    OF    RECONCILIATIONS^ 

Number    of    reconciliations    in    1916 1002 

Families    not    located 87 

Number    back    in    court 190 

Number  found  to  have  separated  without 

going  back  to   court 120 

Remainder    605     67% 

Two  problems  of  administration  must  be  mentioned  in  conclusion, 
the  enforcing  of  court  orders  and  the  finding  of  the  deserting  hus- 
band,  who  seriously  attempts  to  escape.    The  social  workers  of 


27.     Annual  Report  for  1916,  p.  64. 


Family  Desertion  and  Non-Support  325 

organized  charity  may  suceed  in  getting  a  desertion  case  before  the 
court  and  an  order  made,  only  to  iind  that  the  husband  does  not  make 
payment  or  later  ceases  payment.  This  forces  the  case  back  again 
into  the  court  and  delays  the  relief.  Sometimes  the  judge  is  hesitant 
concerning  commitment.  In  the  firat  place  there  may  be  some  good 
reason  for  the  non-payment  of  the  court  order,  such  as  sickness  or 
lack  of  employment.  In  the  second  place,  commitment  is  to  either 
the  House  of  Correction  or  the  county  jail,  which  all  students  of 
penology  admit  is  the  weak  link  of  our  penal  system.  In  the  last 
place,  under  our  present  law  the  amount  that  the  wife  would  receive 
during  the  imprisonment  of  her  husband  only  amounts  to  three  or 
four  dollars  a  week.  However,  the  department  of  accounts  of  the 
Domestic  Relation  Court  of  Philadelphia  finds  that  the  general 
tendency  has  been  toward  a  more  regular  payment  of  Court  orders. 
The  husband  who  deliberately  attempts  to  desert  or  to  avoid  the 
payment  of  court  orders  by  running  off  finds  very  little  difficulty. 
This  is  not  a  local  problem,  however,  but  a  national  one.  In  Phila- 
delphia as  in  most  other  cities,  a  warrant  will  not  be  served  upon  a 
deserting  husband  unless  a  probable  address  can  be  given.  There 
exists  a  fund  for  the  extradition  of  such  offenders  as  have  fled  the 
state,  but  the  extradition  of  those  guilty  of  the  so-called  minor 
offenses  was  discouraged  at  the  conference  of  governors.  Although 
practically  all  the  states  have  made  desertion  a  punishable  offense, 
the  commwealth  rarely  takes  the  initiative  in  enforcing  it.  The 
determined  wife  or  the  persistent  social  worker  in  attempting  to 
apprehend  a  fleeing  husband  is  face  to  face  with  a  legal  as  well  as  a 
practical  game  of  hide  and  seek.  Even  within  a  given  state  there  is 
often  little  cooperation  among  the  local  authorities.  Such  a  situation 
is  unfortunate  and  would  be  fatal  if  characteristic  of  all  criminal 
procedure.  It  so  happens  that  the  majority  of  husbands  do  not  seek 
evasion  by  running  off.  Organized  charity  is  attempting  to  bridge 
the  gap  and  close  cooperation  is  generally  maintained  with  similar 
organizations  in  other  localities.  Jewish  social  workers  have  organ- 
ized a  National  Desertion  Bureau  and  are  very  sucessful  in  locating 
deserting  husbands.  Some  of  their  periodicals  have  a  deserters'  page 
containing  the  names,  descriptions  and  photographs  of  the  fugitives. 
It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that  they  are  favored  in  their  search 
by  a  certain  social  solidarity  and  geographical  localization. 


326  The  Journal  of  Delinquency  "^ 

X.     SUMMARY  AND  CONCLUSIONS 
This  brief  survey  of  the  local  probem  of  desertion  and  non-support 
has  divided  itself  into  four  main  divisions — (1)  the  social  significance, 
(2)   the  amount,  (3)  the  causes  and  (4)  the  treatment  of  desertion 
and  non-support. 

The  Social  Significance  of  the  Problem,  The  importance  of  the 
family  as  a  social  institution  is  our  starting  point.  In  addition  to 
its  primary  function  of  reproduction,  there  is  also  the  secondary 
function  of  socialization,  that  is  the  preparation  of  individuals  for 
their  larger  life  in  society.  An  unhealthy  family  life  is  a  national 
misfortune  and  a  menace  to  social  welfare.  At  present  the  family 
like  other  social  institutions  seems  to  be  passing  through  a  period  of 
adjustment.  Desertion  and  divorce  are  indications  of  an  unstable 
family  life.  Although  there  are  numerous  differences  in  these  two 
phenomena  of  the  modern  family,  there  are  more  points  of  similarity. 
The  fact  that  they  display  themselves  in  different  social  groups  has 
made  desertion  known  as  '*the  poor  man's  divorce.''  Desertion  is  a 
pathological  phase  of  family  life  which  seriously  impairs  the  social 
functions  of  that  important  institution.  Moreover,  it  plays  an  im- 
portant part  in  augmenting  the  social  debtor  groups.  This  reflects 
itself  in  juvenile  delinquency,  juvenile  dependency  and  finally  in  the 
appeals  made  to  organized  charity  by  the  deserted  wives  and  mothers. 
^Philadelphia  seems  to  be  no  exception  to  the  general  rule  that  deser- 
tion is  responsible  for  about  ten  per  cent  (10%)  of  the  relief  cases.  It 
has  been  estimated  that  of  the  children  placed  in  our  local  institutions, 
fifteen  per  cent  (15% )  is  a  fair  proportion  to  charge  to  desertion  cases. 
Although  quantitative  measurement  is  difficult  there  is  good  reason 
to  believe  that  the  role  played  by  desertion  as  a  cause  of  juvenile 
delinquency  in  Philadelpia  is  even  greater.  Although  this  study  has 
made  no  attempt  to  compare  the  desertion  rate  of  city  and  country, 
this  social  phenomenon  like  others  displays  itself  most  vividly  in 
congested  population  centers.  It  is  historically  true  that  practically 
all  the  important  studies  of  desertion  have  been  made  in  the  cities. 
The  Amount  of  Desertion  and  Non-support  The  amount  of 
desertion  is  extremely  diflficult  to  measure.  Our  two  main  sources 
of  information  in  Philadelphia  are  the  appeals  made  to  organized 
charity  and  the  suits  brought  in  the  Domestic  Relations  Division  of 
the  Municipal  Court.  There  is  also  a  great  unknown  amount  of 
desertion  which  never  reflects  itself  in  either  of  these  two  channels. 
Most   studies   of  desertion    have    been    made    from   the    former 


Family  Desertion  and  Non-Support  S27 

source,  that  is  by  officials  of  organized  charity  societies  from  their 
'Case  records.  Our  study  has  been  made  from  a  different  angle  and 
has  confined  itself  almost  exclusively  to  the  cases  which  have  come 
through  the  Municipal  Court.  Many  appeals  made  to  local  charity 
organizations  get  into  the  court,  but  many  do  not.  On  the  otlier 
liand,  only  a  part  of  the  court  cases  are  relief  cases,  known  to  social 
agencies.  The  nature  of  the  source  material  used  must  be  considered 
in  comparing  these  conclusions  with  those  of  other  studies  of 
desertion. 

Desertion  appeals  made  to  organised  charity  seem  fairly  constant. 
Philadelphia  is  apparently  no  exception.  Unemployment  and 
economic  cy  cles  are  regarded  as  playing  a  small  part.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  number  of  desertion  and  non-support  suits  which  were 
brought  before  the  Domestic  Relations  Division  of  the  Philadelphia 
Municipal  Court  does  show  some  interesting  yearly  fluctuations  dur- 
ing the  five  year  period  studied.  The  rate  for  1917  arises  above  that 
for  1916,  falling  again  in  1918,  only  to  rise  again  in  1919  and  to  remain 
at  about  that  level  in  1920,  For  this  period,  for  this  locality  and  for 
this  particular  group  of  desertion  and  non-support  cases  there  does 
seem  to  be  some  correlation  with  general  economic  conditions. 
Such  a  conclusion,  however,  is  clouded  by  the  existance  of  other 
disturbing  factors,  the  war  and  prohibition.  The  effects  of  the  war 
are  interesting,  but  difficult  to  measure.  It  is  possible,  although  we 
cannot  prove  it,  that  war  marriages  were  partially  responsible  for 
the  increase  of  desertion  and  non-support  cases  which  followed  the 
war.  It  is  too  early  to  pass  judgment  upon  the  effects  of 
prohibition  in  Philadelphia.  It  is  interesting,  however,  to  note  that^ 
in  the  early  days  of  prohibition  alcoholism  as  a  charge  of  wives 
against  husbands  dropped  sharply.  There  was  a  steady  decline  from/ 
May  1919  to  February  1920.  After  the  low  water  mark  was  reached 
in  this  month  there  took  place  a  steady  increase  until  the  fall  of  the 
same  year  although  this  peak  did  not  reach  the  former  high  levels. 

Not  only  fluctuation  in  the  rate  but  also  the  absolute  amount  of  de«- 
sertion  and  non-support  are  important.  It  is  held  that  the  fairest 
way  to  read  both  is  in  the  number  of  new  cases.  A  comparison  with 
the  general  population  reveals  the  fact  that  the  average  annual  rate 
of  the  husbands  and  wives  represer  ted  in  the  new  court  cases  per 
one  thousand  married  people  is  about  fourteen  (14.5).  The  average 
annual  number  of  new  cases  per  thousand  families  is  almost  ten 
(9.73).    The  ratio  of  these  new  cases  to  the  marriage  rate,  as  read 


32S  The  Journal  of  Delinquency^  " 

m  the  number  of  licenses  issued,  is  found  to  be  about  one  to  fiVe 
The  importance  of  this  problem  may  also  be  seen  by  a  comparison 
with  the  local  divorce  rate.  The  number  of  new  desertion  and  non- 
support  cases  each  year  for  the  period  studied  is  almost  twice  as 
great  as  the  number  of  divorce  petitions  filed  and  almost  three  times 
as  great  as  the  number  of  divorces  granted. 

Causes  of  Desertion  and  Non-Support.  Although  society  and  the 
individual  are  reciprocals,  the  familiar  method  of  grouping  causes  as 
environmental  and  individual  was  followed.  A  consideration  of  the 
factors  of  race  and  nationality  developed  the  fact  that  the  foreign 
born  are  not  furnishing  the  Court  of  Domestic  Relations  with  an  am- 
ount of  desertion  and  non-support  cases  out  of  proportion  to  their 
ratio  in  the  total  adult  population.  The  colored  populatian,  on  the 
other  hand,  is  furnishing  a  proportion  of  court  cases  in  excess  of  its 
ratio  in  the  total  and  total  adult  population  of  the  city.  It  is  possible 
that  the  Roman  Catholic  group  is  productive  of  a  somewhat  smaller 
amount  of  desertion  and  non-support  cases  than  its  ratio  in  the  total 
population  of  Philadelphia.  Mixed  marriages  betweenindividuals  of 
Hiff^rpnt  rQlionn^ia  groups  Seem  to  have  a  higher  record  of  failure 
than  those  between  individuals  of  the  same  religious  group. 

The  social  and  economic  groups  which  are  largely  represented  in 
desertion  and  non-support  cases  of  the  Philadelphia  Municipal  Court 
may  perhaps  be  characterized  in  the  un-American  expressions  of  lower 
and  lower  middle  classes.  The  very  poor  groups  are  common,  but 
they  are  not  the  most  typical.  The  wealthy  groups  afford  but  a 
very  occasional  representative.  The  skilled,  the  semi-skilled  and 
the  unskilled  groups  are  about  equally  apportioned  among  the  hus- 
bands in  these  court  cases.  The  median  weekly  wage  in  1916  was 
about  fifteen  dollars  and  in  1917  between  sixteen  and  seventeen 
dollars.  In  1918  it  had  jumped  to  between  twenty  and  twenty-four 
dollars  and  in  1919  to  between  twenty -five  and  thirty  dollars.  A 
glimpse  at  the  standards  of  living  of  the  court  litigants  may  be  had 
from  the  fact  that  a  majority  of  the  families  live  in  small  rented 
houses  rather  than  in  furnished  rooms.  In  from  five  to  ten  per  cent 
(5-10%)  of  the  cases  the  families  owned  their  own  homes.  In  a 
great  number  of  cases  the  wives  were  employed  outside  the  home, 
but  it  is  doubtful  if  the  proportion  of  wage  earning  wives  is  greatly  in 
excess  of  that  for  the  same  social  classes  in  the  general  population. 

The  greatest  number  of  court  cases  represent  the  early  years  of  mar- 
ried life.    The  typical  wife  is  in  the  twenties  and  the  defendant  hus- 


Family  Desertion  and  Non-Support  S29 

band  is  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  years  of  age.  Our  thesis  has  noth- 
ing to  show  that  early  marriages  are  more  fruitful  of  desertion  than 
late  marriages,  but  it  does  seem  to  point  definifcely  toward  hasty, 
inama£es_as  a  source  of  marital  unhappiness  which  reflects  itself  in 
this  manner.  It  is  also  possible  that  fxircedjnarriages,  contracted  to 
legitimatize  children  or  clandestine  sex  relationships  often  invite 
subsequent  disaster. 

Although  desertion  is  the  cause  of  broken  family  life  it  is  also  the 
result.  Our  thesis  contends  that  in  this  functional  relationship  the 
emphasis  should  be  placed  upon  desertion  as  a  result  rather  than  as 
a  cause.  Desertion  like  divorce  is  an  evidence  of  unstable  family  life. 
The  industrial  revolution,  the  factory  system  and  the  employment 
of  women  and  children  outside  the  home  are  comparatively  new 
events  in  the  long  history  of  the  human  family.  The  development 
of  great  cities  and  the  process  of  urbanization  of  their  populations 
are  still  going  on.  Again,  social  progress  is  constantly  raising 
standards  of  conduct.  The  popularization  of  law  and  education  to- 
day brings  about  a  different  reaction  from  that  of  passive  submission. 
Vicious  habits,  for  illustration,  upon  the  part  of  either  husband  or 
wife  will  no  longer  be  tolerated  to  so  great  an  extent.  Their  revelation 
in  court  is  no  indication  that  family  life  today  is  worse  than  before, 
but  rather  points  toward  a  quickened  public  conscience.  Among  the 
frequent  charges  in  the  Court  of  Domestic  Relations  are  alcoholism, 
abusive  treatment,  abusive  language,  other  men  or  other  women, 
in-laws,  extravagance,  economic  or  domestic  incompetency  or  incom- 
patability.  In  the  majority  of  cases  the  charges  of  the  wives  out- 
weigh  the  counter  charges  brought  by  the  husbands,  but  generally 
the  contributions  to  domestic  unhappiness  are  mutual.  Some  of 
these  causes,  incompatability  for  illustration,  are  rather  unenlighten- 
ing.  Others  may  be  taken  with  the  proverbial  grain  and  salt.  Al* 
cohohsm,  for  illustration,  is  frequently  unduly  stressed  by  the  liti- 
gants. A  study  by  the  court  workers  of  the  wages  of  a  number  of 
men  charged  with  alcoholism  found  that  they  were  in  excess  of 
what  any  group  of  alcoholics  would  Hkely  earn.  There  is  a  tend- 
ency to  confuse  drinkers  with  alcoholics.  Sex  problems  onjhej)ther 
hand  are  frequently  concealed.  Mental  as  well  as  medical  tests  are 
made  frequently  in  connection  with  the  cases  before  the  Philadelphia 
Court  of  Domestic  Relations.  Although  numerous  feeble-minded  and 
psychopathic  types  are  represented,  it  is  too  early  to  attempt  any 
classification  or  generalizations.     The  new  psychology  now  in  the 


^30  The  Journal  of  Delinquency^ 

making,  may  permit  at  some  future  time  a  study  of  desertion  a^nJ 
marital  discord  from  this  angle. 

Treatment  If  desertion  like  divorce  is  a  product  of  broken  family^ 
fife,  the  proper  place  for  legislation  to  begin  is  with  the  marriage  laws,, 
rather  than  with  the  laws  upon  desertion  and  non-support.  It  has 
been  recommended  that  a  certain  number  of  months  elapse  between 
the  granting  of  a  marriage  license  and  the  performance  of  the  cere- 
mony in  order  to  lessen  the  number  of  hasty  marriages.  In  brief,  it 
may  be  said  that  any  thing  which  tends  toward  a  more  wholesome 
and  healthy  family  life  is  to  that  extent  attacking  the  problem  of 
desertion  and  non-support.  After  the  present  economic  and  social 
changes  have  worked  themselves  out  and  the  present  age  of  adjust- 
ment has  passed,  there  may  arrive  a  more  stable  era  far  the  family^ 
as  well  as  for  some  other  social  institutions.  But  in  the  meantime 
We  are  confronted  with  a  condition  as  well  as  a  theory.  How  shall 
we  treat  deserters  and  how  shall  Vfe  treat  their  families?  Any 
simple  classification  of  the  causes  o^'  desertion  or  of  types  of  deserters 
is  dangerous.  Although  there  are  numerous  recognizable  diseases,, 
the  medical  physician  must  carefully  examine  each  case.  The  same  is 
true  of  the  social  worker,  althought  it  is  assumed  that  she  be  familar 
with  the  various  types  and  causes  of  desertion  as  pictured  by  some 
of  the  more  recent  writers  upon  the  subject,  who  have  attempted  to 
standarnize  the  approach  in  various  cases.  ^^  In  the  treatment  of 
desertion  cases  we  are  still  feeling  our  way.  The  new  profession  of 
social  work  must  experiment  while  it  practices.  The  need  for 
trained  social  workers  is  still  so  great  in  all  fields,  that  one  hardly 
dare  voice  the  demand  for  specialists  in  the  field  of  desertion. 

It  has  been  said  that  we  have  passed  from  a  strictly  disciplinary 
attitude  in  the  treatment  of  desertion  to  the  new  concept  of  "family 
rehabilitation. ''  To  write  the  words  *'family  rehabilitation''  is  easy, 
to  accomplish  it  is  difficult.  The  estabHshment  of  the  Domestic  Re- 
lations Division  of  the  Municipal  Court  with  its  probation  depart- 
ment was  a  long  step  forward  in  Philadelphia.  We  have  pointed  out 
the  work  done  there  in  the  matter  of  family  reconciliation.  Ten  per/ 
cent  is  a  conservative  estimate.  Moreover,  although  many  cases 
come  back  into  the  Court  and  others  separate  later  without  Court 
action,  we  are  persuaded  that  in  a  large  number  of  cases  the  recon- 
ciliations effected  by  the  Court  are  permanent.  It  must  be  pointed 
out  that  there  is  a  danger  of  pushing  too  hard  for  reconciliations. 


28.     The   questionaire   upon   desertion   found   in   Mary   Richmond's   Social 
Diagnosis  is  especially  valuable. 


Family  Desertion  and  Non-Support  331 

The  writer,  however,  did  not  observe  this  in  the  conferences  held  by 
the  probation  department,  in  which  he  was  permitted  to  sit.  The 
social  worker  of  organized  charity  may  deliberately  strive  to  keep 
the  ever  forgiving  wife  away  from  the  dissolute  husband  or  the 
chronic  deserter.  Ill  advised  reconciliations  merely  complicate  and 
prolong  the  case. 

In  conclusion,  we  may  say  that  among  the  outstanding  character- 
istics of  the  local  treatment  accorded  desertion  and  non-support  cases 
is  the  emphasis  upon  the  probation  department  rather  than  upon  the 
the  court.  A  large  number  of  eases  settled  without  court  trial  by  a 
voluntary  agreement  of  the  two  parties  in  conference  is  a  second 
feature  of  the  Philadelphia  system.  In  almost  half  of  the  new  cases 
in  which  separation  is  involved,  the  adjustment  as  to  the  amounr 
to  be  paid  is  made  without  court  trial.  A  third  and  unique  feature 
is  the  fact  that  the  court  orders  are  made  for  an  indefinite  period, 
subject,  however,  to  petition  for  increase  or  decrease.  In  this  at- 
titude Philadelphia  stands  practically  alone.  A  fourth  characteristic 
is  the  conservatism  with  which  most  judges  use  the  great  power 
which  they  possess  under  the  laws  of  Pennsylvania.  The  number  of 
commitments  is  rather  small  and  imprisonment  is  used  only  as  a  last 
resort.  Again,  letters  from  the  probation  departments  are  used 
whenever  possible  as  a  substitute  for  an  arrest  warrant,  The  pos- 
sible escape  of  a  few  deserters  is  regarded  as  preferable  to  the  em- 
bitterment  of  the  husband  and  the  destruction  of  the  possible  re- 
habilitation  of  the  family.  The  inability  of  the  law  to  apprehend  the  »/ 
wilfully  deserting  husband  is  a  serious  problem  throughout  the  entire 
nation.  Although  Philadelphia  is  no  exception  in  this  respect,  the 
siitu^tion  is  no  more  glaring  here  th^p  elsewhere, 


332  The  Journal  of  Delinquency 

XL     BIBLIOGRAPHY 

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American  Journal  of  Sociology.     1910. 

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June  21.     1914 :  December  19. 


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